Weekly PGA Recap: Straka's Stock is Soaring

This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.

It's hard to put Sepp Straka in the same sentence with Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy (though we just did). After winning for the second time this season -- "the biggest win of my career," Straka said -- it's not quite as far-fetched a thought as it was last week.

Straka joined McIlroy as the only multiple winners on the PGA Tour this season, fending off Shane Lowry down the stretch to win the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club. Lowry and Justin Thomas tied for second two strokes back.

The 32-year-old Austrian and former Georgia Bulldog jumped Scheffler into second place in the FedExCup Standings and leap-frogged a bunch of other big names to move from 17th to a career-high ninth in the OWGR.

Battling with Lowry all day Sunday, they came to No. 16 tied for the lead. Lowry bogeyed 16 and 18 while the steady Straka parred out, adding to his win at the Amex in January. He also finished fifth (Bay Hill) and seventh (Pebble Beach) in two other Signature Events this season.

The Amex win didn't come with Ryder Cup points but this one did, and Straka is a lock for the European team this fall whether he qualifies or is a captain's pick.

He has been off-the-charts great with his irons this season, and most every other club, too. He's ranked second in Strokes Gaines: Approach, plus top-6 in Off-the-Tee and Tee-to-Green. And 34th in SG: Putting, after finishing second in the field at the Truist.

Straka became the latest golfer to win with a fill-in caddie, joining Thomas at the RBC Heritage. His usual bagman, Duane Bock, was nursing a back injury and Drew Mathers filled in. 

No word where things stand on that front for this week's PGA Championship. But it seems that with either guy, Straka's chances really lie with him.

When asked about how this win sets him up for the PGA, Straka said: "Last week I actually didn't touch a golf club. So this week was kind of a see what I got situation. Fortunately the putter cooperated early and kind of kept me in it the first couple rounds. Then my ball striking started feeling better and better.

"Really looking forward to kind of continuing that ball striking and just trying to keep getting better every day."

Scheffler and McIlroy are the favorites at Quail Hollow and, while Straka isn't quite there with them yet -- check out where he lands in RotoWire's 2025 PGA Championship Power Rankings -- he is in the same sentence.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Shane Lowry
Lowry's great season continued with his second runner-up of 2025 and he moved to a career-best 10th in the world rankings. But he surely didn't view it like that as the tournament ended. He appeared distraught to finish co-second, when victory was there for the taking. He declined to speak with reporters. Lowry was tied with Straka  with three holes to play, only to bogey two of them. He now has four top-10s and eight top-25s this season, and he will be in the second tier of favorites this week at the PGA Championship.

Justin Thomas
Thomas now has a win and two runners-up in his past four starts. Hard to do much better than that. But we would caution that his four best showings in 2025 have all come on shorter tracks, and now he heads to 7,600-yard-plus Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship, which he won there in 2017.

Patrick Cantlay
There's been a Cantlay sighting! This T4 was his third top-5 of the season, which is undeniably good, as is ranking 19th in the FedEx Cup point standings. But when expectations are as high as they are for Cantlay, and you haven't contended for a title this season and haven't since 2022, it's hard to get too excited.

Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood tied for fourth. It was his 26th career top-5 showing, second most ever among golfers who've never won. Bobby Wadkins had 29.

Jacob Bridgeman
All the names higher on the leaderboard are the sport's greats. The 25-year-old out of Clemson isn't there yet. But this tie for fourth followed up a runner-up and a third earlier this season, and now Bridgeman sits 21st in the point standings, ahead of some of those greats.

Rory McIlroy
T7 is a bad week? Sure, if you're McIlroy. Nah, it wasn't really a bad week, just a routine one. He hasn't finished outside the top-10 in two months and hasn't been outside the top-25 all season. McIlroy now heads to Quail Hollow for the PGA, where the expectations will be far higher than at the Truist.

Cameron Young
Young needed something good to happen soon, and this tie for seventh qualifies. He hadn't had a top-10 in four months, since the season-opening Sentry. You would think Quail Hollow sets up nicely for his power game, but his irons have been so off this season, who knows? Young finished 15th in SG: Approach at the Truist, a very good sign.

Keith Mitchell
Mitchell held the lead for a good chunk of the tournament, after opening with a 61. So while he might not be thrilled with a tie for seventh, he should be. He's now finished T18 or better in five straight tournaments, including a runner-up at Puntacana.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele tied for 11th heading into his PGA Championship title defense. He's playing decently, but he'll need to step it up a notch or two to be in the mix at Quail Hollow.

Corey Conners
Another excellent week for Conners, who just missed his sixth top-10 of 2025 with a tie for 11th. He was his usual self with his irons, ranking fourth in SG: Approach. His putting continued to be better than we've seen from him in years past, ranking 38th, almost right in the middle of the field.

Daniel Berger
Berger has made 10 cuts this season and this tie for 11th was ninth top-25. It's been a spectacular bounceback season and he surely could make a dent at Quail Hollow this week.

Harris English
We liked English's chances coming up at the PGA even before he tied for 11th at the Truist. He's priced in the $6,000s on DraftKings at Quail Hollow.

Rickie Fowler
It may be hard to believe, or not, that tying for 15th was Fowler's best showing of the season. It was his third top-25. It's certainly good news for him heading into the PGA. He's been a very good majors player through the years. Despite being outside the top 100 of the OWGR, Fowler has not missed a cut since the Scottish Open last July.

Tony Finau
It's been a terrible season for Finau, by his standards. A tie for 15th was one of his best results of the season.

Collin Morikawa
A caddie change to Joe Greiner did not pay dividends right away for Morikawa, who tied for 17th. He ranked T36 in SG: Approach, which is basically an awful week for him.

How do these golfers stack up against the rest of the PGA? Visit our fantasy golf rankings for a list of the top 100 golfers for the current season.

MYRTLE BEACH CLASSIC

Ryan Fox
Fox won the opposite-field event in a three-man playoff for his first PGA Tour title, and it landed him in this week's PGA Championship. This was his first top-10 of the season and, not only does it turn around his season, it turns around the next two years of his life, with his Tour card secured through his age-40 season.

Mackenzie Hughes
Hughes is at least somewhat accustomed to being in Signature Events, more so than oppo events. He finished tied for second, and he actually has a very nice run going. In his past four starts, with T10-T3-MC-T2. 

Harry Higgs
Higgs is trying to stick on the big Tour after making it back via the Korn Ferry. A win would've done the trick, and more. Co-runner-up is still a great result for someone who has struggled mightily for the past few years. After missing five of his past six cuts, and 7 of 13 on the season, this week will go a long way in keeping his Tour card. He's up to 112th in the point standings, so there is still a lot more work to do.

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