'Full Swing' recaps: Episode 7 Golf is Hard

It’s finally here. “Full Swing,” the highly-anticipated Netflix docuseries that gives viewers unprecedented access to the PGA TOUR and its players, went live Feb. 15. All eight episodes were released simultaneously, allowing viewers a variety of options about how to consume this groundbreaking series. For some, a slow drip may be the preferred method, allowing them to fully soak in the behind-the-scenes look at their favorite players. Others may call in sick and binge all eight of the approximately 45-minute episodes.

Whatever your preference, we’re here to help. First, a quick warning. These episode recaps are chock-full of spoilers. Proceed with caution. But each of these articles is intended to aid your viewing experience, either adding context to the most memorable scenes or helping you recall your favorite moments from episodes you’ve already binged. Enjoy this closer look at Episode 7 of “Full Swing.”

Episode 7: Golf is Hard

Main characters: Sahith Theegala, Mito Pereira

Supporting cast: Murli Theegala, Joaquin Niemann, Antonia Pereira

Major champions and established veterans have been the focus of “Full Swing” up to this point but that changes with this episode, which focuses on two players trying to gain their footing on the PGA TOUR: Sahith Theegala and Mito Pereira. Going behind the scenes with this pair shows the importance of close relationships on the PGA TOUR. For Theegala, that comes from his family, which often forms a vocal cheering section as he pursues his first TOUR title. Pereira finds fellowship in his fellow Latin American players.

ROOKIE JOURNEYS

Theegala graduated from Pepperdine in 2020 as the consensus player of the year in college golf. He earned his PGA TOUR card at the following year’s Korn Ferry Tour Finals. The rapid ascent means that Theegala is still living in his parents’ home when he starts his TOUR career. Part of the episode focuses on his transition to life on his own as he moves to Houston to set up his home base from where he’ll play the PGA TOUR. He’s unaccustomed to responsibilities like doing his own laundry, and the Netflix cameras are there as he throws his clothes in and hopes for the best.

Meanwhile, the newly-married Pereira took a winding road from Chile to the PGA TOUR. He was a star in junior golf and won a pro event in his home country as an amateur at age 17. “I was just always looking up to him,” Pereira’s Chilean countryman Joaquin Niemann says. “When he was 10 to 15, he won everything in Chile, he won everything in the States, he was awesome.”

Pereira quit golf for two years as a teenager before playing briefly at Texas Tech and turning pro at 20 in 2015. He spent five-plus years on various tours before earning a promotion to the PGA TOUR in 2021 with his third Korn Ferry Tour win of the season. Niemann, meanwhile, turned pro at 19 and finished in the top-10 in three of his first five PGA TOUR starts to quickly earn his card.

“We knew that we were gonna somehow meet each other on TOUR. He took too long though,” Niemann says with a laugh. Although Niemann once idolized Pereira, recent years flipped things with Pereira finding inspiration from Niemann’s success.

“If he made it,” Pereira says, “it’s not as impossible as everybody thinks in Chile.”

A BRAVE NEW SPORT

Theegala was a prodigy. He won IMG Academy Junior World Championship titles at ages 6, 8 and 10. As his junior career progressed, so did questions from his family. “As someone from the Indian culture, it was kind of new,” Theegala says. “My parents didn’t know how to deal with a kid like me who played a lot of sports because nobody in my family really played.”

But they watched him.

“I was a big fan of golf because I saw Tiger Woods,” says Theegala’s father, Murli, who moved to the United States in 1987 for graduate school. “Sahith would sit with me and watch it. I don’t know when he got interested, but one fine day when I said you want to go hit some balls, that’s when I found out, Oh, you really love that game.”

As with other episodes, this one features old footage of Theegala as a kid. As he built an enviable resume as a junior, his parents Murli and Koruna knew they would have to seek out the best resources and commit time and money to help him.

“It’s all worth it,” Murli says as Theegala accepts his PGA TOUR card in 2021.

A STAR IS BORN

The 2022 WM Phoenix Open featured 18 of the top 30 players in the world. Theegala, a rookie playing on a sponsor exemption, shot 66-64-69 to take a one-shot lead into Sunday. Not only is he playing for his first PGA TOUR title, but doing so in front of the largest, and rowdiest, galleries in golf. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous,” he says. “My first time in any sort of spotlight in pro golf and what a place to do it.”

On the 16th hole, tied for the lead with Patrick Cantlay, he hits the green, pumps up the crowd, and makes par. Then things get messy. Theegala’s tee shot on the drivable par-4 17th hole trickles into the water hazard after getting a bad bounce in the fairway. He makes bogey, a mistake he will have to overcome with a birdie the last hole. The crowd chants: “Theegala! Theegala!” But he just misses chipping in on 18, settling for a par and missing a playoff with Scottie Scheffler and Cantlay by one shot.

In his post-round press conference, Theegala starts crying. With tears still in his eyes as he exits his presser and walks outside, he falls into his parents’ arms. It’s a great show of emotion to capture.

The following week, Theegala goes to his hometown event at The Genesis Invitational. He recalls going to Riviera Country Club to watch PGA TOUR golf and get autographs as a kid.

This time, Theegala is signing for kids. A young fan tells Theegala he cried while watching Theegala’s last hole at the WM Phoenix Open. He calls Theegala his hero. Pereira notes that Theegala’s success gives him confidence as a fellow rookie. He posts a T15 finish at The Genesis Invitational, while Niemann coasts to a wire-to-wire win.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PAIN

Pereira explains that making the PGA Championship field as a rookie was far from a certainty. He plays well and gets in, though, while Theegala does not crack the field and heads to his new home in Houston to watch on TV. Pereira opens 68-64-69 to take a three-shot lead.

Leaving Southern Hills, Pereira offers a word of caution.

“The 18th hole is hard,” he says despite having just made a 30-foot birdie putt on the hole. “I blocked it, but it came out fine.”

Hold that thought.

Still holding on in the final round, Pereira makes a long par putt on 16 to maintain a one-shot advantage. His wife Antonia, able to see, watches with Cassie McGuinness, wife of Mito’s caddie Scott. “Cassie, with that par, I know we are going to win,” she says.

On 17, a short par 4, Pereira has a good look at birdie, but comes up a rotation short. He still holds a one-shot lead over Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris, both of whom are already in the clubhouse.

“Breeze is just left to right,” Scott McGuinness says on the 18th tee. “A low driver’s perfect.”

But Pereira makes an awkward swing and his drive trickles into the creek. He makes double-bogey to not only lose his one-shot lead but also fail to qualify for the playoff.

“I don’t know there’s much you can say at that minute,” Pereira says.

“It looked like he did everything right the last day,” Theegala says from home, “but that’s the brutal thing about golf, you can feel like you did everything right and something could go wrong.”

Yes, it can. A month later, Theegala will take a one-shot lead on the 72nd hole at the Travelers Championship before sending his drive into a fairway bunker and thumping his second shot into the lip. After signing for a double-bogey 6, he’ll lose by two, one of several close calls during a successful season that ends with him qualifying for the TOUR Championship.