[PHOTO: Orlando Ramirez]
Sepp Straka won the PGA Tour’s American Express tournament by doing what he does best: ooze consistency. In compiling a 25-under-par total over 72 holes, Straka made 27 birdies, 43 pars and just a pair of late bogeys. Consistent, indeed.
Straka’s work with his driver for the week was superb. He ranked first in strokes gained/off-the-tee with his 9-degree Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond driver with a Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft, gaining more than three shots on the field.
Straka combined that with lethal iron play, hitting 83.3 percent of his greens, ranked T-1 in the field, with a split set of Srixon irons, using the new ZXi5 irons for his 4 and 5-irons and the one-piece forged ZXi7 irons through the 9-iron. His wedges are Cleveland’s RTZ which he also employs for his pitching wedge.
Straka was solid on the greens as well, ranking seventh in strokes gained/putting, picking up more than four shots on the field with his venerable Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle mallet. The putter is 35 inches in length with 2.5 degrees of loft.
“This is the oldest club in my bag,” Straka told Golf Digest in 2023. “I put this in play my rookie season of 2018-19. I putted with a Rife Barbados mallet for a long time, and this has similar lines and a similar shape. It has a main aiming line in the middle plus two lines that kind of frame the ball. I’ve always liked that look to help with alignment.”
In Palm Springs that alignment helped pave the path to victory.
What Sepp Straka had in the bag at the American Express:
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV Arrow
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X), 9 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond, 15 degrees
Irons (4-5): Srixon ZXi5; (6-9): Srixon AXi7
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (46, 52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey Stroke Lab Tuttle