PGA Tour star calls two-shot penalty on himself in R3 of Tour Championship

PGA Tour star Sahith Theegala called a two-shot penalty on himself after touching the sand with his club during his backswing on the par-4 3rd in the third round of the Tour Championship at East Lake.

Theegala, 26, found the fairway bunker down the right flank of the 4th and he had just under 150 yards to the hole. 

After playing his shot to the left of the green, Theegala called over a PGA Tour rules official to inform him that he had touched the sand on his backswing.

The commentary team looked into the incident and said they couldn't see anything wrong with it. 

But Theegala felt his club had just brushed a couple of grains of sand, and so his gut feel was that something untoward had happened. 

He therefore called a two-shot penalty on himself - as you cannot ground your club in the sand to play a shot - and a double-bogey six went down on the card.

A number of PGA Tour fans have applauded Theegala for his integrity. 

Scroll below to watch what happened...

With a huge $100m purse at this week's Tour Championship, the two-shot penalty could not have come at a worse time for Theegala.

But Theegala's credit, he surged on the back nine by coming home in 30. 

He closed with five straight birdies to move into solo third on 17-under par.

But he's still well behind leader Scottie Scheffler. 

The winner of the Tour Championship will be crowned FedEx Cup champion and receive a record first prize of $25m.

Even 10th place will walk away with $1.75m. 

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