Sahith Theegala demonstrated remarkable composure in the first three rounds at the US Open 2026. This reflected in his leaderboard positioning, too, as he climbed from T49 to T2 by the end of Round 3. But in the final round, the US Open’s official X account posted a video in which he is unsure whether to follow the ball or look for his club.

On the par-4 4th hole, the American professional hit a 291-yard drive off the tee that landed in the left native area. When he was taking his second shot from the rough, his club got out of his hand after impact and went flying. He then found another ball buried under his lie.

The ball traveled only 77 yards to the left fairway and 117 yards short of the hole. Eventually, Theegala finished the hole with a double bogey after missing a 5-foot 11-inch putt opportunity to score a bogey. And with that, he was dropped from 1-under T2 at the end of Round 3 to 1-over T10 through 5 holes in the final round.

Shinnecock Hills’ design makes such shots more likely than many other courses on the PGA Tour. The World No.1 Scottie Scheffler warned pros of the same after his scouting trip to Shinnecock Hills ahead of the Memorial Tournament.

“The rough, also, was a really good penalty, I think for the width,” Scheffler said of Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

According to him, once someone starts missing the fairways, the chances of making a comeback become slim. However, the fairways are very generous and do not penalize even decent shots.

The deep roughs also make the fescue more challenging. It is not as thick and punishing as rye grass, but thin fescue makes shots unpredictable. Consider Patrick Reed’s bizarre shot on par-4 14th in the opening round. After missing the fairway off the tee, his ball landed in the dreaded fescue. He shanked the shot across the fairway into fescue on the other side.

But Sahith Theegala has managed to overcome these challenging course conditions until now. He started with an opening round of 2-over 72. However, he made an impressive comeback in his second round of 3-under 67, which featured three bogeys on the 6th, 15th, and 17th, and six birdies on the 4th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 12th, and 16th. He followed with an on-par 70 in the third round. Overall, he was tied for 2nd after three rounds alongside the likes of Scottie Scheffler, Tom Kim, and others.

This isn’t an isolated event, though. There are many similar incidents in which clubs slipped from professionals’ hands and flew. During the 2024 BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth, Rory McIlroy had a similar experience. When playing an iron shot on the par-5 12th, the clubhead flew off mid-swing at impact. However, the ball landed just 6-7 feet from the hole, and he was able to finish with a birdie.

Hudson Swafford saw the same happening to him at the 2022 Masters. On the par-5 13th at Augusta National, his clubhead snapped. The broken clubhead went flying towards Rae’s Creek. The ball flew 224 yards into the green, as he made a par on the hole.

For Sahith Theegala, the flying club incident was a reminder of how the challenging conditions at Shinnecock Hills can punish even the slightest mistake.