It’s time to start taking this Sepp Straka character a lot more seriously.
Not that you would ever dismiss a player ranked 17th in the world, but Straka earned a two-stroke victory Sunday in the $20 million Truist Championship just outside Philadelphia. With a final-round two-under 68 at Philadelphia Cricket Club, Straka out-duelled European Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry for his second victory of the year. He joins Rory McIlory as the only multiple winners on the PGA Tour this season.
Adam Scott was best of the Australians, finishing T-34 at four-under, while Min Woo Lee was T-51 and three shots behind Scott at one-under. Cam Davis finished the tournament at even-par for a T-54 result.
A native of Austria, who spent many of his formative years in Georgia, Straka finished at 16-under 264 and collected $US3.6 million ($A5.6 million) in beating the elite field in the year’s sixth signature event. Straka now has four career titles, all gathered in the last three years.
“It’s huge, the biggest win of my career,” Straka, 32, said. “Yeah, just so grateful for the process and the whole team that kind of makes me play as well as I do. Every week … my coaches weren’t here this week, but they’re there almost every week. Even this week when they weren’t here, there’s always a back and forth, and they’re always working on my game to help me succeed. It’s great to see their hard work pay off.”
And hard work it was, with Straka admitting that the day-long pressure was taxing. “It’s hard to eat. You just feel kind of nauseous,” he said. “You can’t feel your arms, legs, whatever. You’re just kind of fighting through it, but that’s what makes it fun, when you’re pulling off shots with that feeling. It makes it real special.”
Lowry, 38, bogeyed two of the last three holes in his head-to-head duel with Straka, which constituted the difference on the scoreboard after they began the day sharing the 54-hole lead. The Irishman closed with a 70 and 266 total and shared his second runner-up finish of the year with Justin Thomas, who shot 67 in his bid for a second straight signature event win. Thomas has three second-place finishes this year (two of them to Straka, the other coming at the American Express) and 10th of his career.
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Straka managed to forge a two-stroke lead at the turn only to bogey 10 and 11 to restore a tie with Lowry that remained unbroken until the pivotal par-three 16th. Lowry pulled his tee shot into heavy rough above the bunker and then deftly pitched to six feet only to miss the par attempt.
He still had a chance at the par-4 18th, but his tying birdie try from 20 feet skittered six feet by. When he missed the comeback attempt, Straka could breathe easier and rolled in a four-footer for par and the win. Putting was crucial for Straka; he ranked second in strokes gained/putting at plus-8.660 after entering the week ranked 63rd for the season on tour. He was third in total feet of putts made on the tricky Philadelphia Cricket Club greens.
Emilee Chinn
Straka and Lowry each moved inside top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking—Straka for the first time. Definitely time to take this guy seriously, especially when he admitted to not having his best ball-striking performance.
He’s come a long way since his days as a fairly average player in junior golf.
“I would say consistency, consistency of working at it regardless of where I was in my in game,” he said of his rise in professional golf. “Junior golf, I wasn’t all that good. I definitely had some talent. I could hit the golf ball fairly well, but very rough around the edges. At [the famed University of] Georgia I just felt like I kept getting better. Had a quick bout with the chipping yips my junior year and redshirted, but other than that, I felt like I just kept getting better.
“After I graduated, same thing. I just kept trying to improve my golf game regardless of where I was compared to other people in my class because my high school class was pretty stacked. A lot of guys ended up finishing early and going onto the PGA Tour, and I was definitely not one of those. Regardless of where I was, I just kept trying to improve my golf game and hoped that at the end of it, it would be good enough to play out here.”
It’s definitely good enough. Better than most at the moment.
