Livescore
One by one, the contenders melted away in the bright California desert sunshine on the back nine of the Pete Dye Stadium Course in La Quinta.
It might not have mattered anyway, since Sepp Straka refused to buckle until it didn’t matter.
Straka, one of more than a dozen active PGA Tour players from the University of Georgia, followed up his third-round 64 with a 70 on Sunday at the Stadium Course and at 25-under-par 263 won The American Express by two shots over Justin Thomas (66).
Straka bogeyed two of his last three holes, Nos. 16 and 18, but it didn’t matter in the end as he built a four-shot lead through 15 holes. He could have doubled the final hole and still won.
Jason Day (69) and Justin Lower (69) tied for third at 22-under. Charley Hoffman (71) and Patrick Cantlay (70) tied for fifth at 20-under.
Straka earned $1,584,000 million and 500 FedEx Cup points for his third PGA Tour title. He moved into third on the money list with $1,928,138 and second on the points list. Hideki Matsuyama leads both.
Straka, a native of Austria who was brought up in Valdosta, Ga., won his third title and the group of ex-Bulldogs on the PGA Tour have combined for 44 victories. Straka added the AMEX to his championships at the 2022 Honda Classic and the 2023 John Deere Classic.
Sepp Straka has been coming close
Straka has been knocking at the door for his third victory since the week after winning the John Deere, when he tied for second at the Open Championship, six shots behind another former Bulldog, Brian Harman.
Straka has posted 11 top-16 finishes and five top-10s over that span, including ties for 16th at the 2024 Players Championship and Masters, and back-to-back ties for fifth at the Schwab Challenge and The Memorial.
Straka played bogey-free at the Stadium Course until the 70th hole of the tournament, the par-5 16th when he missed to the right with his second shot, failed to reach the green from 51 yards away, chipped on and missed a putt of 15 feet, 6 inches.
But the sprint he made to the finish on Saturday to earn his first 54-hole lead on Tour gave him enough of a cushion to absorb the late mistakes.
Straka closed the third round at the La Quinta Country Club with six birdies in his last eight holes to take a four-shot lead over Hoffman, Thomas and Lower and came back at the Stadium Course in the first round to birdie Nos. 1, 4 and 7 on putts of 12 feet or less, and add another birdie at No. 13 on a putt of just under 8 feet.
Contenders missed their chances to catch Straka
Thomas made a run with a 4-under front nine and a birdie at No. 11. Hoffman birdied four of his first eight holes. And Day chipped in for a birdie at the par-4 ninth hole and two-putted the par-5 eighth and 11th holes. All were within three shots of Straka at some point.
But Hoffman triple-bogeyed the par-3 13th hole after dousing two tee shots in the water on the left, Day bogeyed Nos. 15 and 18 and Thomas’ putting stroke deserted him as he missed six birdie putt attempts in the last seven holes, four between 10-to-16 feet.
Day could have made it interesting at the end if he had made a pair of 15-foot putts, for eagle at No. 16 and for birdie at No. 17. Both slid past the hole.
Where does the PGA Tour play next week?
The Tour will move West and South of Palm Springs to the San Diego area, where the Farmers Insurance Open will be played Jan. 23-26 at the Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, Calif.
Matthieu Pavon of France is the defending champion.
Among the players who committed at last week’s deadline are FedEx Cup points and money leader Hideki Matsuyama, Ludvig Åberg, Day, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Will Zalatoris.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour The American Express: Sepp Straka captures third tour victory
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