The Viennese golf pro goes into the final day of the $16.5 million tournament at Hoylake’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club in fourth place. The 30-year-old has every chance on Sunday to be the first Austrian to finish a golf major among the top five. The American Brian Harman is clearly in the lead.
Straka played a round of 70 (1 under par) on Sunday, dropping a spot with a total of five under par. The US-Austrian dual citizen was one over par after the first nine holes, like the day before, but managed three birdies on holes 10 to 14, which initially brought him back into the top three. But with a bogey on the last hole he lost a rank.
Harman maintained his lead in the battle for the legendary Claret Jug winner’s trophy. The US pro goes into the final after a round of 69 with a five-shot lead over compatriot Cameron Young and six ahead of Spaniard Jon Rahm, who played the best round of the day at 63. A further stroke behind, the Norwegian Viktor Hovland, the Frenchman Antoine Rozner, the Australian Jason Day and the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood follow ex aequo with Straka.
Two weeks after his second tournament victory on the PGA Tour, Straka is well on the way to another top result that could even become historic. Because the best major result of an Austrian so far is the seventh place that Straka achieved in May at the PGA Championship. He was the first ÖGV golfer with a top ten result at one of the four major traditional tournaments. At the British Open, Markus Brier holds the record with twelfth place in 2007, until two months ago the red-white-red major highlight.
