Sepp Straka’s Truist win had 1 scene that sums up his rise

FLOURTOWN, Pa. — It wasn’t long ago that Sepp Straka was ranked outside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He was searching. Searching for his first win, searching for consistency.

Straka decided to change some things after a 2021 calendar year that saw him miss 16 cuts and card just two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour. Well, everything.

He switched to coach John Tillery early in 2022. Always known as an inconsistent bomber, Straka decided to throttle down a touch in the name of accuracy. Three months later, he won the 2022 Honda Classic.

That started Straka on a steady climb that continued Sunday, where he survived brutal nerves, some terrible shots and a loaded field to win the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course by two shots over Shane Lowry and Justin Thomas.

The win, the fourth and biggest of Straka’s career, moves him into the top 10 in the OWGR and is the latest proof that the changes he made to his team and his mentality have paid off.

“Very grateful because it’s not just my hard work, my coaches …. the work that they put in day in and day out is very special, and it makes me — it makes it easier for me to go out and try to get better because I know that they’re doing everything they can to help me out,” Straka said Sunday night. “I think it’s just kind of a culmination of a lot of people putting a lot of work that’s gotten me to this point.”

Straka started the day tied with Lowry at 14 under. Lowry went two up on Straka with a birdie on the par-5 fifth, but Straka poured in a 20-foot eagle putt on top of him to immediately pull even.

Straka’s day at A.W. Tillinghast’s golden-age gem was a yo-yo from there. He bogeyed the sixth, made back-to-back birdies at eight and nine and then gave shots away with bogeys at 10 and 11.

“I felt like I did a really good job today of just taking every shot for what it is,” Straka said. “I looked at the leaderboards, but I didn’t really pay too much attention. I knew if I executed, I’d have a chance. I made a lot of mistakes out there. Hit a lot of good shots, but I made a lot of mistakes.”

The European Ryder Cup pair remained tied until the par-3 16th, where a bogey by Lowry gave Straka a one-shot cushion with two challenging holes left to play.

After a par on 17, Straka hit his tee shot on the par-4 18th into the left fairway bunker. With Lowry getting TIO relief from a grandstand in the left rough, Straka needed one good swing to keep the pressure on Lowry. Straka pulled 4 4-iron from the bag, centered himself, took a mighty lash, and delivered the decisive shot. The ball soared through the thick Pennsylvania air, landed with a thud and came to a stop 31 feet from the hole. After Lowry missed his birdie attempt and par putt, Straka’s victory, the biggest of his career, was in hand.

“My fairway bunker game has historically been pretty bad,” Straka said of his shot into 18. “This week it’s been really good. I was able to kind of capitalize on that and make good contact. It was one of the better shots I hit this week.”

Straka’s name might look like an outlier on a leaderboard with names like Lowry, Thomas, Cantlay and McIlroy. Perhaps on the surface, that’s true.

But as Straka rolled off the 18th green at Philly Cricket Club and headed to scoring, one scene said everything about where his hard work has gotten him.

About where his rise has brought him.

There sat Rory McIlroy in a cart just off the practice putting green. The five-time major champion congratulated Straka and delivered a quick message to the Austrian.

“He told me at least this win counts for Ryder Cup points,” Straka, who joined McIlroy as the only multiple-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, said. “Really, really happy for that. I’ve been kind of behind in the points because of that win at [American Express], not counting [because it was opposite a Rolex Series Event]. “I knew that if I just kept playing good golf, I would have a chance to be there. I’m sure this will probably help me out with the rankings a lot. So very grateful, and hopefully I can keep the good play going and keep getting some more points.”

Straka went 1-2-0 on the European Ryder Cup side that beat the Americans in 2023 at Marco Simone in Rome. The Europeans have already seen McIlroy, Ludvig Åberg, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton win this year. Justin Rose and Lowry have also been in top form. It’s a loaded side, but Straka’s play over the past few years and the step he has taken this year have clearly put him in the class of player that McIlroy wants and expects to be on the team this September at Bethpage Black.

Straka is no stranger to the grind.

He followed his twin brother, Sam, into golf. Sam was more heavily recruited than Sepp, and Sepp credits Sam as the reason he got a scholarship to Georgia. Straka watched as other golfers in his high school class left school early to join the PGA Tour. He stayed focused on himself, his game and his goals.

“I would say consistency, consistency of working at it regardless of where I was in my game,” Straka said of his path to becoming a top-10 golfer. “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 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.”

Straka’s rise hit a high point on Sunday in Philadelphia. The moment with McIlroy afterward highlights the respect Straka has from his peers. It was not a congratulations for a player who had just done the unthinkable. It was an acknowledgement of the expected.