Straka secures 3rd PGA Tour victory at The American Express | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
January 19th, 2024 

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week the PGA Tour kicked off its “west coast swing” at the American Express from PGA West in La Quinta, CA.

The American Express - Tournament History 

The American Express has been one of the PGA Tour’s annual stops since 1960 when it was originally established as the Desert Classic. The event was unique due to the fact that it was contested over five rounds (90 holes) as opposed to the traditional four rounds and 72 holes. This remained the case all the way until the 2012 season when it was changed to 72 holes. The tournament is also known for its pro-am every year, not to mention the fact that it’s played on three different golf courses. Each player will have a chance to play three rounds of golf on Pete Dye’s desert classics including La Quinta Country Club, the Nicklaus Tournament Course, and the Stadium Course. The final round is then played on the Stadium Course which is known to be the hardest of the three. Last year history was made as amateur Nick Dunlap set a new tournament scoring record winning at 29-under par. The previous five winners are as follows:

2025 - Sepp Straka (-25)
2024 - Nick Dunlap (a) (-29)
2023 - Jon Rahm (-27)
2022 - Hudson Swafford (-23)
2021 - Si Woo Kim (-23) 

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to the Austrian Sepp Straka. The 31-year-old from Vienna was coming off a T15 and a T30 to start the season in Hawaii (Sentry & Sony). Straka opened the week at the Nicklaus Tournament Course where he posted a 7-under 65. Where he made the biggest move was on Friday at the Stadium Course. Straka fired a bogey-free 8-under 64 in which he made birdies on the last three holes of each nine. In doing so, he gave himself a great opportunity to attack LaQuinta on Saturday and start to build a lead.

Another cool story that was taking place on Friday was that of Blades Brown. Brown is a 17-year-old kid who turned professional recently, and got his first start on the PGA Tour via sponsor exemption this week. After shooting an opening round 72, Brown went to work on Friday at the Nicklaus Tournament Course. He would go on to shoot 8-under 64 which included a stretch where he made 8 birdies in 9 holes. The impressive showing also marks the lowest round by a PGA Tour player under the age of 18 in 40 years. Brown ultimately struggled down the stretch on Saturday and missed the cut by three, shooting 6-under for the week.

On Saturday, Straka resumed his march on La Quinta where he would make 8 birdies and no bogeys en route to another 64. Straka had now gotten to 23-under which had opened up a 4-shot lead on the field. Charley Hoffman, Jason Day, and Justin Lower, were all in a tie for 2nd at -19, while Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, and Mark Hubbard were close behind them. Knowing he has four shots to play with on Sunday, Straka came out and just kept making birdies. He opened his day with a birdie to set the tone and keep his foot on the gas. He would make two more birdies on the front for an opening 33 and was in full control. One more birdie at the 13th got Sepp to to 27-under with just a handful of holes remaining. 

The closest competitor was Thomas who had rallied for a 6-under Sunday, but that still only got him to 23-under. In the end Straka would make two bogeys coming in and only win by two over Thomas, but it never really felt all that close. His dissection of the Stadium Course on both Friday and Sunday set him apart from the rest, giving him the cushion he needed to get across the finish line safely. This victory marks his third on Tour, with the last coming in 2023.

Winner’s Bag - Sepp Straka 

Cleveland/Srixon staffer Sepp Straka claimed his third PGA Tour title on Sunday in Southern California. Straka’s bag has some variety, and also some exciting new product for the 2025 season. Starting at the top of the bag, Straka actually carries all Callaway. Off the tee, he plays the Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (9 degrees). To go with the driver, he carries two matching Ai Smoke TD fairway woods (15 & 20 degrees). New in the bag this season are the Srixon ZXi irons. Straka currently employs a combo set that includes the 4 and 5 iron in the ZXi5, while the 6-9 irons are Zxi7. Also new this year are Straka’s wedges, which have been updated to Cleveland RTZ’s (46, 52, 56, & 60).  On the greens Sepp has stayed loyal to his gamer, the Odyssey Tuttle Stroke Lab.

Key Stats

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 2nd 
Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 31st 
Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 27th 
Strokes Gained: Putting- 8th
Strokes Gained: Total- 4th