Straka prevailed with a total of 270 strokes in front of the Irishman Shane Lowry (271). Third was the American Kurt Kitayama (272). Victory at the tournament in the US state of Florida brings the 28-year-old around 1.44 million dollars (1.28 million euros) in prize money. Styrian Matthias Schwab ended the tournament with 277 strokes as a shared seventh.
Straka, who was born in Vienna and also has US citizenship, played a round of 66 on the par 70 course on the final day. Especially in the finish he showed with three birdies on the last five holes, while Lowry couldn’t get any further.
Straka, who was born in Vienna and also has US citizenship, played a round of 66 on the par 70 course on the final day, as reported by sportsbettingday.
Increasing rain helped Straka
Straka also finished the last hole with a birdie, took the lead and had to wait for Lowry to catch him – he too would have needed a birdie to do that. However, Lowry missed his last shot and had to contend with the rain even more than his Austrian opponent before. With that, a piece of local sports history was completed.APA/AFP/Getty Images/Andy Lyons
“I stayed patient, waited for my chances. In the end it was very difficult with the pouring rain and the wind,” said Straka. The final round of the 28-year-old started with a bogey, but he immediately countered with two birdies. He also equalized a bogey on the eighth hole with a birdie. He fixed the win with more birdies on lanes 14, 16 and 18.
“I hit the ball really well today and was able to take full advantage of it. I just stuck with it,” said Straka. His mother, Mary, and his wife, Paige, who had landed a last-minute flight, celebrated with him in Florida. “I saw them this morning when I was walking on the putting green. It’s great to have them all around,” he said. “The conditions were really difficult. It really started to pour on my second shot on the last hole.”
Next milestone reached
With the historic sporting victory, Straka not only raked in the record prize money for an athlete from Austria. He will now also be able to compete at the Masters in Augusta in April and the PGA Championship, and next January he will also be able to appear at the exclusive Tournament of Champions, where all PGA season winners compete in Hawaii.
After Markus Brier as the first winner on the European Tour, Wiesberger’s premieres at Masters (2015) and Ryder Cup (2021) and Straka as the first Austrian with full playing rights on the PGA Tour (2018/19), the round of memorable golf successes is now in red -White-Red grown by one more.
A major victory is still open. Wiesberger was the closest in 2014 when he went into the final round at the 96th US PGA Championship in Louisville (Kentucky) just one stroke behind Rory McIlroy as a sensation and finished 15th. Brier therefore still holds the domestic major record with twelfth place at the British Open in 2007.
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