FLOURTOWN, Pa. — Sepp Straka seized the lead with a par on the sixteenth gap and shot a 2-under 68, outdueling Shane Lowry on Sunday within the remaining spherical of the Truist Championship on the Philadelphia Cricket Membership for his second victory of the season.
After Lowry missed the inexperienced along with his tee shot on the 212-yard, par-3 sixteenth, Straka hit to about 30 toes. Lowry chipped out of the heavy tough however didn’t convert a 6-foot par putt, falling a shot behind.
Lowry missed a possible tying 22-footer for birdie on the prolonged par-4 seventeenth and after driving into bother on the stout 514-yard, par-4 closing gap, he completed with a three-putt bogey.
A tense back-nine duel between the 2 had an anticlimactic ending as Straka made a no-pressure, two-putt par and joined Rory McIlroy (three victories) as a a number of winner on tour this season. The Austrian who performed school golf at Georgia additionally received The American Specific in January and now has 4 profession wins.
The Truist was one other miss for Lowry, whose final PGA Tour victory was at The Open in 2019. He received 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 on the leaders.
Patrick Cantlay (65), Jacob Bridgeman (65) and Tommy Fleetwood 65) completed tied for fourth at 12 underneath.
McIlroy, the defending champion and four-time occasion winner at Quail Hole, its typical venue, by no means actually bought going and closed with a 2-under 68. Enjoying in his first particular person match since finishing the profession Grand Slam on the Masters, McIlroy shot 68 and was in a bunch in seventh place at 10 underneath.
McIlroy now heads to his beloved Quail Hole in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the PGA Championship, the 12 months’s second main.
Prime scoring situations returned to Philly Cricket’s Wissahickon Course for the primary time because the opening spherical. After a wet and chilly second spherical and a blustery third, Thomas, who was making an attempt to win consecutive begins after taking the RBC Heritage final month, was the one actual pursuer within the sixth signature occasion of the PGA Tour season.
Finally, it got here right down to the third-round leaders.
Straka constructed a two-stroke lead after the primary 9 holes, but it surely wasn’t straightforward. Lowry broke their tie with a 12-foot birdie putt on the first to get to fifteen underneath.
Each took benefit on the par-5 fifth. Lowry made birdie to get to 16 underneath and Straka trumped his taking part in associate with a 20-foot eagle putt to forge one other tie.
The par-3 eighth proved vexing for Lowry, who missed the inexperienced along with his tee shot, left his chip quick and two-putted. Straka seized the chance, draining a 15-foot birdie putt to go one stroke up earlier than following with one other prolonged putt at No. 9, a 28-footer to achieve 17 underneath.
Straka’s lead was gone after two holes on the again 9 after consecutive bogeys.
After neither capitalized on the 95-yard 14th, the shortest par 3 on tour — excluding majors — within the ShotLink period courting to 1983, Lowry almost chipped in for eagle on the par-5 fifteenth and settled for birdie. Straka matched that with a birdie from 6 toes and moved in entrance to remain on the subsequent gap.
Thomas almost caught the leaders twice. He missed potential lead-tying birdie putts from 14 toes on the twelfth and from 3 toes on the fifteenth.
Andrew Novak, who teamed with Ben Griffin to win final month’s workforce occasion on the Zurich Basic, had Sunday’s low spherical with a 6-under 64 and completed tied for seventeenth.
Sahith Theegala withdrew before the start of the final round, citing a neck harm.
Practically to a person, the professionals spoke fondly of the Wissahickon course within the tour’s return to golf-starved Philadelphia. The century-old course boasted giant crowds all through the week, ensuing within the occasion’s fan store promoting out of merchandise Saturday and being shuttered for the ultimate spherical.
