He still remembers the afternoon when Sepp Straka’s career began again. At the beginning of August 2018, on the outskirts of Kansas City, on one of the many unknown, anonymous American golf courses where the tournaments of the second-class competition series in American golf take place, Straka played for his sporting survival: In his second season as a professional, he had such a bad time for months played that he was on the verge of slipping even further downwards. If the failure continued, Straka would have had to switch to the outsourced tours in Latin America, Canada or Asia; to be on the safe side, he had already registered there.
Very few people who slip into mini-tours ever come back from sporting nirvana. Away from the big million-dollar circus, the abysses in golf lurk behind every 18th green, and it’s part of the 30-year-old Austrian’s story that he looked down there before he managed the turnaround and rose to unimagined heights almost in fast motion, because fate turned around: Straka won by one stroke that afternoon in August 2018 in Kansas City because his opponent putted a few centimeters past the hole on the final green. That’s golf.
He played well in the weeks that followed, qualified for the US PGA Tour, earned starting rights through good placings, became the first Austrian to win a tournament in the USA in March 2021 – and because he simply didn’t stop climbing, Straka is five years old two months after Kansas City arrived in sunny Rome on Sunday evening, where he is part of the European team at the Ryder Cup.
“It’s amazing how fine the line is,” says Straka. The 22nd in the world rankings is now a man in demand. He has to give interviews on German television, on the pay-TV channel Sky, because he is currently the only German-speaking player among the best in the world. And then there are all the Americans who keep trying to convince him that he is actually one of them – and not a European.
His mother comes from the USA and met his father in Vienna
Straka was asked at his press conference on Tuesday whether he had mixed feelings before the competition between two continents. His mother comes from the USA and met his father in Vienna, where Josef – whom everyone just calls Sepp – and his twin brother Sam spent the first years of their lives. They played their first rounds at the Fontana Golf Club, then the family moved to the southern US states, to Valdosta, Georgia, when he was 14 years old. So, are they actually Americans? Straka’s answer: “No, not really.”
He grew up “divided,” with influences from both sides of the Atlantic. But now, in view of his debut in the Ryder Cup, the family has made a very clear decision: “My mother was walking around with an Austria cap the whole time last week. They’re all on Team Europe.” There are still a few sayings from our own team: “Go Dawgs” is what the Englishman Tommy Fleetwood calls out to him in an imitated southern accent; it is the motto of Strakas University in Georgia.
It’s these little moments that show that Straka has now arrived among the golf elite. He has made a name for himself with his style of play, which is so mercilessly inconspicuous that no one actually had him on the bill. He is 1.90 meters tall, he was never the most well-trained athlete, never the one with the longest shots or the outstanding statistics – but in recent years he has always been one of the players with the best results. He earned his nomination for the European team with a second place at the British Open in July and a victory on the PGA Tour shortly before, in which he played the final round in an incredible nine strokes under par, below the course standard.
“I couldn’t imagine ever being here”
“My game has continuously improved from year to year, that was always my goal,” says Straka. Many golf professionals set themselves much more ambitious goals, and you can also find enough characters on the mini tours who convince themselves that they will be at the Ryder Cup in a few years. In the individual sport of golf, excessive self-confidence is often the best way to overcome doubts about your own abilities: before you convince others of yourself, you first have to convince yourself that the highest spheres are attainable.
Straka, a shy character, thinks differently. “I couldn’t have imagined that I would ever be here,” he says as he quickly walks around the Marco Simone Golf Club, having time for a few questions between two interviews. On a stand in the background, his name is written next to that of Justin Rose, his English teammate, who is playing in his fifth Ryder Cup and has long since achieved legendary status. There isn’t much time in a hectic week to take in these little details; after all, it’s not about just being there, it’s about winning.
But Straka stops for a moment to talk about Kansas City and how he has developed since that afternoon: “To be honest: I still have a hard time imagining it.”
