Weekly PGA Recap: Game, Sepp, Match

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

You would think a final-round leaderboard featuring Justin Thomas, Jason Day and Patrick Cantlay could generate some buzz. But Sepp Straka was also on it, and he had such a big lead that there was little drama at The American Express on Sunday.

Straka carried a four-stroke lead into the final round and still had it heading into the three closing holes at PGA West's Stadium Course. That's when he made his only two bogeys of the week, giving the illusion of a closer result in a two-shot win over Thomas. Day tied for third and Cantlay tied for fifth.

"Nerves, just complete nerves," Straka told reporters in La Quinta, Calif., explaining what happened after 69 pristine holes. "Stomach in a knot, the whole nine. So, yeah, just really excited about the way I handed the pressure today."

This wasn't the 31-year-old Straka's first rodeo. This was his third career PGA Tour title. He finished at 25-under, four off the tournament record set last year by then-college student Nick Dunlap, who tied for 34th in his title defense.

The first (and only) Austrian to win on Tour, Straka broke through with his first victory in 2022 and backed it up with another in 2023. But 2024 was an off year in which Straka fell out of the top 35 in the world rankings. Now, he's back up to 18th, one off his career-best position.

Straka switched to new Srixon irons at the start of the year and also switched his ball. He said the changes were minimal, but here he is with a 2025 win already in January.

Straka was already exempt into every big tournament of the year, so perhaps the biggest boost will be for his desire to make the Ryder Cup team again, as he did in 2023. And with LIV players now eligible for the European team -- Tyrrell Hatton also won Sunday on the DP World Tour (see below) -- qualifying again might be that much harder for Straka.

But he didn't want to actually mention the "Ryder Cup."

"It's great to get a win early," he said. "it's awesome to get ahead of the curve, but it's a long year, so you just got to keep stacking good results and keep playing good golf and, yeah, that's going to be my goal the rest of the year."

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Justin Thomas
With a third podium finish in his past four starts going back to last year, Thomas is back up to No. 14 in the world, his highest standing in almost two years. Thomas shared runner-up at the ZOZO, tied for third at the Hero World Challenge and for 26th at the Sentry. Of course, he still hasn't won since the 2022 PGA Championship, but another victory does seem closer than it has in some time.

Jason Day
After Day  turned back the clock to win in 2023, he hasn't done a ton since. In fact, heading into the Amex, he'd fallen outside the top-40 in the world. But now with a tie for third, he's back up to 33rd. The T3 was his best showing since the finishing T2 at the 2023 Open Championship. It also solidifies his spot in the top 50 of the OWGR, which he'll need later this summer to get into both Opens.

Justin Lower
Lower tied for third. The importance of that, other than the obvious, is that it moved him to second in the Aon Swing 5 standings. After next week at Torrey Pines, the top five get into the next two Signature Events -- Pebble Beach and the Genesis Invitational -- so the repercussions are enormous. Being second (behind J.J. Spaun) with only one event left means Lower is almost certain to get into those two prestigious events.

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay has become quite proficient at top-25s. Tops-10s, however, had become more elusive. Which explains why he had fallen out of the top-10 in the world rankings to No. 12. At the Amex, Cantlay tied for fifth, breaking a stretch of six straight top-25s. He hadn't had a top-10 since the Travelers (T5) last June. The high finish moved Cantlay back into the top10 of the OWGR. But of course his long winless drought continues, one that dates back to the 2022 BMW Championship.
 
Charley Hoffman
The 48-year-old Hoffman is still about two years away from the Champions Tour, so keep his PGA Tour card remains important. He tied for fifth, which will help him finish in the top 100 in the point standings needed to keep his card but likely won't be enough.

Nick Taylor
Taylor followed his big win at the Sony with a tie for 12th at the Amex, which goes a long way in showing that the out-of-the-blue win last week may not be so out of the blue.

Will Zalatoris
Zalatoris was a popular play this week. He didn't quite justify all that interest, but a tie for 12th is not half bad. He continues to try to come all the way from back surgery, and high finishes haven't been a regular occurrence since his return a year ago. Zalatoris is residing in the 60s in the world rankings.

Harry Hall
Hall followed up top-10s in both Hawaii events with a top-25 at the Amex. Specifically, a tie for 21st. Hall sits fifth in the Aon Swing 5 standings, so he has a lot to play for this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Rickie Fowler
In his first start since the ZOZO last October and only fourth since the Open Championship in July, Fowler tied for 21st. It included a 62 on Friday at the Nicklaus course, but he followed it up with twin 71s on the weekend. It's really hard to gauge where Fowler's game is or even how much he will play. He's skipping Torrey Pines this week, and he's not yet in any signature event or any major but the PGA. But we are scheduled to see Fowler in the new TGL on Tuesday night.

Billy Horschel
After opening the season T51-MC in Hawaii, Horschel's tie for 21st was a step in the right direction. He will skip Torrey Pines before likely returning in two weeks for the signature event at Pebble Beach.

Sam Burns
Burns never got anything going, and a third-round 73 at the Stadium Course cemented a so-so week. He tied for 29th.

Nick Dunlap
Dunlap could only tie for 34th in his title defense. But a Sunday 68 shot him up the leaderboard 24 places, making the finish look a whole lot better.

MISSED CUTS

Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im, Cameron Young, Brian Harman, Blades Brown. There were a bunch of big names, but remember, the cut came after 54 holes. Still, all these top players (except Brown) should not be missing cuts in weak fields. Blades is the 17-year-old amateur sensation who made his pro debut. Like Akshay Bhatia and Joaquin Niemann, Blades turned pro rather than go to college. It worked out for them but it took Bhatia a few years, so we shall see.

William Mouw
We don't mean to single out Mouw, the 24-year-old California native, for his missed cut. But he sort of singled out himself, going viral after shooting an octuple-bogey 13 on the 17th hole at the Stadium Course en route to an 81. Here it is, in all its viral glory.

DP WORLD TOUR

In a field with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton came away with the title at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic to zoom up to eighth in the world rankings and certainly into the Ryder Cup conversation. Hatton was one shot better than Daniel Hillier and three better than McIlroy, who tied for fourth after barely making the cut. That was something Rahm couldn't do, as he went home after Friday.