Golf: Sepp Straka sensational second at the British Open

The Viennese played a final round of 69 at Hoylake’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club and finished sensationally second with a total of 277 strokes. It is the first top 3 place for an Austrian in one of the four major tournaments. The US American Brian Harman (271) secured the victory with ease. Straka shared second place with Jon Rahm (ESP), Tom Kim (KOR) and Jason Day (AUS).

Harman, who went five shots into the final day, played a round of 70s to close out the $16.5 million tournament. That was enough to always keep his opponents at a distance. The 36-year-old’s first major win was sweetened with the legendary Claret Jug trophy and $3 million in prize money. Rory McIlroy, on the other hand, has to wait longer, the Northern Irishman finished sixth. His last major triumph was nine years ago.

In typical English conditions – drizzle and 17 degrees – Straka started the final round with a loss of stroke, but he made up for it with birdies on the 3rd and 5th. As a result, Austria’s top golfer missed opportunities to win more shots, the short game on the greens did not go as desired. The 30-year-old managed another birdie on the 9th hole, but this was followed by a bogey on the 10th hole after a short, botched putt.

Further down the back nine of the par 71 course, he still managed birdies on the 11th and 16th with a bogey on the final hole. That not only cost Straka second place, but also around $600,000 in prize money. At almost 1.1 million dollars, the monetary reward was still lavish. All in all, Straka’s performance in Hoylake was a convincing letter of recommendation to the European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, who nominated his team for the traditional continental comparison with the USA in Rome (September 25th – October 1st) at the beginning of September.

The Austrian confirmed his brilliant form. Two weeks ago, the University of Georgia graduate clinched his second PGA title by winning the John Deere Classic. Before the tournament, Straka had changed his caddie, borrowing Duane Block from Kevin Kisner, who is currently on a break. As “The Open” now shows, this seems to be a promising pairing.

The athlete, who lives in the USA, had already shown in May at the PGA Championship that he has to be reckoned with in the big major tournaments, where he achieved the first top ten result of an ÖGV golfer in one of the four big traditional tournaments with seventh place. Now the first top 3 place is added in Hoylake. Previously, Markus Brier had held the record at the British Open in 2007 with twelfth place.

Straka celebrated his debut victory on the PGA Tour in February 2022 at the Honda Classic, thereby setting new standards for Austrian golf. As a result, he became the first red-white-red golfer to take part in the Tour finals of the top 30 in Atlanta and in the Tiger Woods invitational tournament in the Bahamas, an accolade in the sport of the little white ball.