Sepp Straka fights his way to 72nd after an early double bogey.

2024-08-22

Sepp Straka got off to a tough start with an early double bogey at the start of the BMW Championship and fought his way to a 72 (par) with a flawless back nine at Castle Pines GC, which allowed him to start the second round from the middle of the field.

Despite the rather botched start to the playoffs last week in Memphis, Sepp Straka There is definitely reason to be happy, because by reaching the second FedEx Cup Playoff Event in Colorado in the top 50, he has already qualified for the signature events, including a bonus of over 5 million dollars. This should also help him collect points next year and thus secure the top 50 in the world and thus guaranteed starts in majors.

Aside from this point, the young dad has less reason to be happy on the course at the moment, as the putter in particular has been causing the 31-year-old to worry for several weeks now. First he even missed the cut in Scotland, then he was unable to play a major role in the Open Championship and also struggled quite a bit at the Olympic Games. Things aren’t going well on US soil either, as he proved to his unpleasant surprise last week in Memphis.

Things should go better in Colorado, however, because his tough performance in Tennessee has already seen him slip back to 24th place in the FedEx Cup, meaning that his buffer to the top 30 is slowly but surely being used up. He will now need to improve at Castle Pines GC, because with a similarly weak week he could actually slip out of the top 30 on Sunday, meaning he would not get a ticket for the Tour Championship in Atlanta for the first time in two years.

Early double bogey

Thanks to the altitude, Sepp even has the almost 620-meter long par 5 on the 1st within reach with his attack. However, this sands up to the left of the green and since the birdie putt from three meters doesn’t want to go in the hole, the initial birdie just doesn’t work out. Things get unpleasant on the 2nd after he leaves the wedge too short after a strong drive from around 90 meters and sinks it in the water. The first bogey can no longer be prevented.

The two-time PGA Tour champion also appears very confident from the tee in the early stages and finally hits an iron really hard into the green on the 3rd, immediately making up for the bogey he made on the 2nd from a good meter. However, after the tee shot on the par 3 then goes way too far to the right, he only manages to get the ball into the green bunker from an awkward position in the native area and then needs two putts, a double bogey pops up on the scorecard.

Fought back

On the par 5 of the 8th, he pitched strongly to the flag, but suddenly his putter stopped working again and refused to help him score a birdie from 1.5 meters, leaving him stuck at 2 over par. After that, things didn’t really go so easily, although he did score some fairly safe pars for long stretches. It wasn’t until the par 5 of the 14th that he brought some color back to the table, after he had no great problems scoring his second birdie after an attack parked just next to the short-cut.

With the 17th, he finally has the last long hole well under control and works his way back to even par shortly before the end of the round. He then leaves nothing to chance on the final hole and returns to the clubhouse with a 72 (par), which means he can start the second round from the middle of the field.