FLOURTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Sepp Straka seized the lead with a par on the 16th hole and shot a 2-under 68, outdueling Shane Lowry on Sunday in the final round of the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club for his second victory of the season.
After Lowry missed the green with his tee shot at the 212-yard, par-3 16th, Straka hit to approximately 30 feet. Lowry chipped out of the heavy rough but failed to convert a 6-foot par putt, falling a shot behind.
Lowry missed a potential tying 22-footer for birdie at the lengthy par-4 17th and after driving into trouble at the stout 514-yard, par-4 closing hole, he finished with a three-putt bogey.
A tense back-nine duel between the two had an anticlimactic ending as Straka made a no-pressure, two-putt par and joined Rory McIlroy (three victories) as a multiple winner on tour this season. The Austrian who played college golf at Georgia also won The American Express in January and now has four career wins.
The Truist was another miss for Lowry, whose last PGA Tour victory was the 2019 British Open. He won the European tour's BMW PGA Championship in 2022.
Lowry’s even-par 70 left him in a tie for second with Justin Thomas (67), who made a late run at the leaders.
Patrick Cantlay (65), Jacob Bridgeman (65) and Tommy Fleetwood 65) finished tied for fourth at 12 under.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., finished in a four-way tie for 11th at 9 under. Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, both of Abbotsford, B.C., were tied for 17th and 60th, respectively.
McIlroy, the defending champion and four-time event winner at Quail Hollow, its usual venue, never really got going and closed with a 2-under 68. Playing in his first individual tournament since completing the career Grand Slam at the Masters, McIlroy shot 68 and was in a group in seventh place at 10 under.
McIlroy now heads to his beloved Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, for next week's PGA Championship, the year's second major.
Prime scoring conditions returned to Philly Cricket’s Wissahickon Course for the first time since the opening round. After a rainy and chilly second round and a blustery third, Thomas, who was trying to win consecutive starts after taking the RBC Heritage last month, was the only real pursuer in the sixth signature event of the PGA Tour season.
Ultimately, it came down to the third-round leaders.
Straka built a two-stroke lead after the first nine holes, but it wasn’t easy. Lowry broke their tie with a 12-foot birdie putt at the first to get to 15 under.
Both took advantage at the par-5 fifth. Lowry made birdie to get to 16 under and Straka trumped his playing partner with a 20-foot eagle putt to forge another tie.
The par-3 eighth proved vexing for Lowry, who missed the green with his tee shot, left his chip short and two-putted. Straka seized the opportunity, draining a 15-foot birdie putt to go one stroke up before following with another lengthy putt at No. 9, a 28-footer to reach 17 under.
Straka’s lead was gone after two holes on the back nine after consecutive bogeys.
After neither capitalized on the 95-yard 14th, the shortest par 3 on tour — excluding majors — in the Shotlink era dating to 1983, Lowry nearly chipped in for eagle at the par-5 15th and settled for birdie. Straka matched that with a birdie from 6 feet and moved in front to stay at the next hole.
Thomas nearly caught the leaders twice. He missed potential lead-tying birdie putts from 14 feet on the 12th and from 3 feet on the 15th.
Andrew Novak, who teamed with Ben Griffin to win last month's team event at the Zurich Classic, had Sunday’s low round with a 6-under 64 and finished tied for 17th.
Sahith Theegala withdrew before the start of the final round, citing a neck injury.
Nearly to a man, the pros spoke fondly of the Wissahickon course in the tour’s return to golf-starved Philadelphia. The century-old course boasted large crowds throughout the week, resulting in the event’s fan shop selling out of merchandise on Saturday and being shuttered for the final round.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Bob Lentz, The Associated Press
