The golfer most in control of his ball on Sunday thrived when conditions got untenable late at the 2022 Honda Classic. Sepp Straka, the most statistically proficient player in the field from tee to green in the final round, birdied the 18th in a rainstorm that would have been more fitting at an Open Championship to defeat Shane Lowry by a stroke and Kurt Kitayama by two.
The victory is the first on the PGA Tour in Straka’s career and the first by an Austrian in the organization’s history.
Straka’s birdie on the last allowed him to finish 3 under across the final five holes and touched off a 66, which nearly fell in as the round of the day. It was emblematic of the complete control he had coming home.
“Hanging in there,” Straka told NBC of what he’ll remember about the week. “The third round I definitely didn’t have my best stuff, just hung in there and grinded out a good round. I hit the ball really nice today and really could take advantage.”
Straka started the final round five strokes back of Daniel Berger, who finished fourth after shooting a 74, one ahead of the worst rounds of the day.
The turning point in the tournament came at the par-4 16th where Straka poured in a birdie putt from off the green. It tied him at the top with Lowry for the first time and setup the closing kick on No. 18. Straka, a nice hitter off the tee, pounded driver 334 yards at the last, reached the green and two-putted from 48 feet for the win.
Amid Berger’s mini-meltdown and Lowry scuffling at the final hole, Straka’s presence and poise stood out, especially given the (literally) swirling weather conditions.
The win for Straka touches off a nice little run in which he’s finished in the top 20 at two big boy tournaments at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club. It’s not a win that is going to change the career trajectory of Straka, 29, but it’s certainly one that could alter his season and create new opportunities. He’s into the Masters now and has some world ranking momentum, too.
While his game will likely never be at the level of the two men he beat coming home (Lowry and Berger), on this day, he was better than both. He had more control over what he was doing. He hit the shots that mattered and closed when it was winning time. It’s easy to try and project way out into the future or talk broadly about what victories mean, but like Straka displayed on No. 18 on Sunday, often it’s far more meaningful to simply live in the moment. Grade: A+
Here are the rest of our grades from the 2022 Honda Classic.
Shane Lowry (2nd): Lowry, playing alongside Berger, seemed the man to swoop in and clean up his mess. He played a bogey-free last 29 holes but couldn’t muster a birdie late when he had to have it. He pointed to the weather, and he’s not wrong.
“I played the golf, good enough golf I felt to win the tournament,” said Lowry. “That bad weather came in just as we were hitting our tee shot on 18, which was as bad a break as I’ve got in a while. Yeah, it’s a tough one to take. There is obviously a lot of positives to take from the whole event. You know, probably played some of best golf my whole career this week, I feel, around a very tough golf course. And you know, I’ll take that into The Players, and hopefully I can have a good week there.”
Lowry hit a poor tee shot on No. 18 that seemed to be affected by the rain and had to play that entire hole in nasty weather while Straka, playing ahead of him, only had to play his approach in the rain. Lowry finished second in the field from tee to green and is already petitioning the golf gods to make him whole in just over a month. Grade: A
Reporter: They say the breaks even out.
Lowry: “Hopefully in about five or six weeks in Augusta.”
Daniel Berger (4th): I said Sunday morning that we should be prepared to watch Berger waltz to his fifth title, and then he lost his lead halfway through the front nine when he double bogeyed the third and went 4 over for the day through his first six holes. What were his issues? Well, how much time do you have? He hit the ball poorly but ostly made up for that by holing out from a bunker late on the front and chipping in early on the back. The biggest problem on Sunday was his putter. Berger made one (one!) putt longer than 29 inches.
“I felt fine today,” said Berger. “Honestly, I warmed up well and I felt good. I just didn’t make that many putts, or any putts, and if you don’t make putts you’re not going to shoot a good score. That’s what happened today.”
It’s a bummer when you’re the best player in a field to fail to become the eighth straight player to convert a five-stroke (or more) 54-hole lead, but I would be far more concerned if Berger never won. He does win. Possibly not as much as he should given his statistical neighborhood but enough that I’m disinterested in attributing this collapse into anything a no good, very bad day at PGA National. Grade: A-
Brooks Koepka (T16): The four-time major winner had a nice finish on Sunday to rise into the top 20 on this leaderboard. This was actually an encouraging showing considering how he’s been playing. With two missed cuts in his last three tournaments (sandwiched around a T3 at Phoenix), it’s nice to see him grind out a top 20 on a tough course in a field that’s about as far from major championship-like as it gets. He also finished top 20 from tee to green, which is another great sign with the Players Championship and Masters right around the corner. Grade: B+
Rickie Fowler (T42): As a former champion of this event, I thought this would be a good time to check in on Fowler. He finished T42 on the week, which is actually his best finish of the year, but the statistics were not good. Fowler did most of his damage on the greens and was mediocre (at best!) from tee to green. Fowler has some work to do if he hopes to qualify for the Masters in April. The part that has to be most frustrating if you’re Fowler is that you’ve seen (and felt) what it takes to be a top 10 player in the world, which is what he was when he won here in 2017, and now even sniffing the top 100 in the world feels herculean. Grade: B-
