Palm Beach Gardens, Fl – On a day that seemed to be fit for the coronation of a hometown kid, it turned out to be the breakthrough for a journeyman. Holding a five-stroke lead going into Sunday at PGA National’s Champion course, Palm Beach native Daniel Berger seemed poised to finally win the event in front of family and friends. After rounds of 65-65-71, the only question was by how many would he win by?
Instead of getting a dominating performance, we were treated to high drama. And the drama began early, Berger played on Sunday the way he finished late Saturday when he stumbled home – bogeying the par 5 eighteenth. He lost the lead early to the Irishman (who now calls Palm Beach Gardens home) – Shane Lowry and only after a hole-out from the greenside bunker on the seventh did Berger look to have any real chance to win. How quickly things can change in this game…
Berger never did regain his form, finishing with a 4 over par 74, while Lowry fired a bogey-free 67, but it was Straka who made birdies on three of his last five holes, and got thru the Bear Trap 1 under par. His final round 66 was just enough for a one-stroke victory over Lowry, and he became the first Austrian-born player to win an event on the PGA Tour. Straka finished at 10 under par.
“It’s crazy,” Straka said. “It’s a lifelong dream of mine just to be heading to Augusta in a month or so. It’s still surreal. I’m sure it’ll sink in here before long, but yeah, it’s just crazy.”
Straka finished strong, piping a 334-yard bomb in the short grass off the last tee, and a 6-iron approach (from 192 yards) onto the green – leaving a lengthy eagle opportunity. His long lag putt finished just inches short of the hole, leaving just a tap in for a closing birdie. All that was left was to watch to see if the final group could catch him.
Unfortunately for the final two, an untimely rainstorm came in just as Berger and Lowry were teeing off on the 72nd hole. There was no doubt the weather affected them both greatly. Lowry had to lay up and Berger tried to go for the green from 254 yards in the driving rain. Beger found water, and Lowry’s wedge approach finished 43 ft from the hole. Lowry’s chance to tie came up just short, and afterward, talking about the pop-up storm Lowry admitted, “as bad a break as I’ve got in a while.”
Scores: https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2022/the-honda-classic/leaderboard.html
