After riding the momentum of a top-tier final round, Sepp Straka has won the 2023 John Deere Classic. The Austrian notched nine birdies and one eagle. Despite ending his round with a double bogey on the final hole, this performance earned him a 62-under par. Straka’s overall tournament score was 21-under 263. His stellar final three rounds gave him a two-stroke edge over Brendon Todd and Alex Smalley, who finished tied for second place.
This victory marks Sepp Straka’s second career win on the PGA Tour. His first win came last year at The Honda Classic. The 30-year-old’s share of this purse will be $1.3 million, in addition to 500 FedExCup points.
The PGA Tour shared the celebration on Twitter.
Tournament Recap
On Thursday Jonas Blixt led the way after carding six birdies and two eagles. One of his eagles came as a result of a 43-foot putt on hole 14. Blixt ended round one in first place with a score of 9-under par.
Seamus Power secured six birdies during his first nine holes. Despite the strong start, the Irishman stalled during the back nine. After carding eight pars and ending with a bogey on the final hole, Power dropped a few spots on the leaderboard. Greyson Sigg, Garrick Higgo and Adam Schenk each carded six birdies on their way to a bogey-free round one. The trio ended the first day at TPC Deere Run tied for second place at 6-under par.
Cameron Young fired on all cylinders to start round two. The 26-year-old notched five birdies in his first nine holes. He sank three more on the back nine and improved his overall score to 13-under par. This performance was good enough to give him a two-stroke lead over the field heading into the weekend.
Sepp Straka catapulted up the leaderboard during round two. Despite shooting 2-over par in round one as a result of four bogies, Straka improved over 120 places after recording nine birdies on Friday afternoon. Kevin Roy, Kevin Streelman and Yuto Katsuragawa each completed a bogey-free round two. Thanks to an eight-birdie performance, the trio shot an 8-under 63.
The cut line was posted at 4-under par. This event saw Joel Dahmen miss his fifth consecutive cut. The last time Dahmen played on the weekend was at the end of May at the Charles Schwab Challenge where he finished T68 (+7).
When is the next tournament?
The next tournament on the PGA Tour is the Barbasol Championship. For the fifth time, this event will be played at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, KY and will feature a purse of $3.8 million.
The 2022 Barbasol Championship was won by Trey Mullinax who shot a 25-under 263. A clutch birdie on the eighteenth hole earned Mullinax his first PGA Tour victory.
This tournament is a co-sanctioned event with the DP World Tour. Around 50 DP World Tour players will head to Kentucky in search of some elusive FedExCup points. These points can play a crucial role in some of these pros earning their PGA Tour cards.
Stay tuned for more PGA content including tournament previews, recaps and any breaking news!
Featured image courtesy of the PGA Tour
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