Strange Sunday at the Honda Classic, strange happenings all day at PGA National and it was Sepp Straka who emerged as the last man standing when the skies opened and helped the big Austrian with his first PGA Tour win.
First things first. Daniel Berger went to the first tee with a five-shot lead. Shane Lowry birdied the first hole and cut it to four. A poor drive, then a worse third shot left the leader buried in a greenside bunker at the par five fifth. Four shots later Berger walked off with his only double-bogey of the tournament. Three of the five shots lost in three holes and the door that leads to victory was open for Lowry, Straka and so some degree, Kurt Kitiyama.
For most of the day, it looked like Lowry, the 2019 Open Champion might get back into the winner’s circle for the first time since that major win at Royal Portrush.
Berger tried to right the ship with a hole-out from a greenside bunker for birdie at the seventh but it was his putter that didn’t show up when he needed it most. Lowry missed a four-footer at eight to take the lead and was tied with the overnight leader through eight holes.
Lowry and Berger headed to the final nine tied at eight-under but it was Lowry who was playing mistake-free golf. The portly Irishman took the solo lead with a birdie at the 11th from 13 feet. Berger continued to sink. A three-putt bogey at the 12th dropped him back to seven-under with Straka, who was playing a hole ahead of the final pairing.
A birdie by Straka at 14 got him to eight-under. Then from just off the green at the 16th, he holed a 25-footer to tie Lowry at nine-under.
It was basically boiling down to Lowry and Straka while Berger still had life through 71 holes.
Then the rains came, heavy rains. But no electricity in the air meant play on.
Straka launched a 334 monster drive at 18 and with rain pouring, his a beautiful second that stopped just 30 feet from the cup. He two-putted to post 66 — low round of the contenders and put a 10-under total on the board. He then ran to the clubhouse with his teammate at the University of Georgia and former Honda winner — Keith Mitchell, who waited for him at 18.
Safely in the clubhouse, Straka watched Lowry hit his worst tee shot of the day that went left and dictated a layup. Berger ended his hopes when his second found the water right of the green.
Lowry’s third from 117 yards was outside 40 feet and left him little-to-no chance of making birdie. He didn’t and Straka had the win.
Lowry did everything he could except produce a good tee shot on the 72nd hole. His 67 left him a shot behind Straka, the first player from Austria to win on the PGA Tour.
Kurt Kitayama’s closing 68 gave him solo third at eight-under, his best-ever finish on the PGA Tour. As for Berger, his closing bogey gave him a devastating 74 and solo fourth at seven-under. He made one putt outside three feet all day.
“Just kinda hanging in there,” was how Straka described his victorious day. “I hit the ball really well today. I was glad I could hit that second shot on the green (at 18).”
In the end, Straka was the most accurate player off the tee in the field all week — a good formula for winning at PGA National.
And, he was the only man in double-digits under par — a recurring theme for winners of this event.
3 Comments
baxter cepeda
It was only a matter of time for Straka, as Rolf said early in the week.
But this was one of those game stories more about who lost it then who won it.
Gotta play the second guessing game with Berger: what would have been if he just kept that fried egg in the bunker on 5, leaving himself a fairly routine 4th shot for arguably the best bunker player in golf.
But also the second shot for Berger on the same hole from the pine straw set that doubles destiny in motion. Berger said to his caddie he thought he could rope a draw out of the trees, I believe he said “no problem”. But his caddie said we don’t need to and they pitched out Instead, which I still don’t get how that ball didn’t hit that ghost tree. That left him well over 150 in, a shot he probably didn’t practice much. Nothing makes a tour pro look more like us then when they have to play a shot they didn’t get to practice multiple times during the week. He was lucky to even be in the green side bunker after that shot and not in the water.
That whole situation aside it was crushed putt after crushed putt that crushed Berger.
All day Lowry looked like the steely major champ whom would capitalize. Unfortunately the golf gods probably felt the Open champ still hasn’t paid enough dues for that magical week in Portrush, so they tested him with seemingly the USs first and only rain squall of 2022.
Lowry made it sound like the rain kept him from birdie on 18 but he had made worst then birdie earlier in the week on that hole.
Straka may not have had to deal with rain off the tee on 18 but it was pouring for the second shot, which he handled like a champ.
And just like that we now have a pga tour champ from Austria. It was only a matter of time.
Tom Edrington
Disagree, Stepp WON it, he stepped up in the downpour and hit an incredible shot — a lot less experience than Lowry….Sepp won it, hit a GREAT approach putt at 18 as well….Berger only has four Tour wins for a reason.
baxter cepeda
Lol. His name is Sepp, not Stepp.
He did win it. I agree. I’m not taking anything away from the guy. I credited his clutch shot at 18 as I discredited Lowrys excuses.
I didn’t mention Strakas lag putt but did mention Berger’s struggle with lag putting. So yea it was a good lag putt.
And not to mention the many other shots sepp hit to himself in position to take this thing. He will no doubt have more wins and eventually a downright ‘this guy won it’ win.
But common Tom Bergs lost this one. I don’t know how you could have watched starting one the 18th tee Saturday and not concluded that Bergs lost it. It wasn’t crazy windy or anything. The guys just lost it.
But saying Berger only has 4 wins on tour for a reason is confusing considering he is 28. 4 is not a huge number but it’s big enough to make him one of the best at winning on tour.
I still see a clutch player in Berger. This doesn’t change that. We could analyze the anatomy of this collapse till the cows come home. But at the end of the day sans Bergs painstaking collapse no one else had a chance to Sepp up.