Golfer Sepp Straka: In a row with Falco and Schwarzenegger

That golf would be played on ZiB2 was truly unexpected. Austria's most important news program is known as a kind of beacon of the highest seriousness in the country, and presenter Armin Wolf is known for his relentless interviews – which sometimes compromise his foresight. The fact that Wolf addressed the events of Sunday evening in Philadelphia in a segment on Monday testified to a certain historical significance of what had happened on the other side of the Atlantic. You have to tell a particularly good sports story in a country that really only cares about its skiers, soccer players, and at most, tennis players, to get a mention in the main news.

Sepp Straka, however, has succeeded. Straka won the fourth PGA Tour tournament of his career on Sunday, his second this year, and by far the most significant, not only financially. Straka earned $3.6 million with his victory, but most importantly, he broke a historic barrier: Since Monday, an Austrian has been among the top ten golfers in the world, a position no one has ever achieved before. Word that Straka is "a superstar" has now spread even to Armin Wolf.

Straka is now joining a number of very well-known representatives from other countries. When someone makes a breakthrough in the USA, it is always particularly big news for small Austria, with its great fascination for America and those who have achieved something there. It was like this with Billy Wilder when he won his Oscar for Best Director in 1946, with Falco when he topped the US charts with "Rock Me Amadeus" in 1986, and with Arnold Schwarzenegger when he even led the most populous state, California, for a time. What sets Straka apart from all three of the above is his reserved nature. What connects him with all three is that you can already hear a bit of his foreign roots after so long.

At the age of 14, Straka and his family moved from near Vienna to Valdosta, Georgia, his mother's hometown. Certain English phrases are therefore closer to his heart today than long interviews in German. It's the little words, like the soft, dialect-spoken "suppa," that reveal the influence of his father Peter – and, of course, the flag that flies next to Straka's name on the big golf scoreboards. He remains a proud Austrian, and a proud European as well; one still remembers the autumn of a year and a half ago.

In September 2024, Straka was part of a glorious European winning team at the Ryder Cup in Rome. Even though ZiB2 didn't report on it at the time, those weeks in Italy marked Straka's arrival at the top of the world: Since 2024, he has consistently been among the top 50 players in the world rankings, a weekly contender for victory, and a highly respected golfer among his teammates and competitors. This was evident again on Sunday: One of the first to congratulate Straka was world number one Rory McIlroy, leader of the European team at the Ryder Cup and therefore an enthusiastic supporter of Straka's success.

Straka has achieved the feat of being highly respected on both sides of the Atlantic – even though in the US, more people would probably ask him for an autograph on the street than in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral. This has to do with his quiet, friendly lifestyle: Straka almost always greets you on the golf course with a friendly smile and in a good mood, well-bred from an Austro-Southern household. And blessed with a talent for hard work, he had no choice but to do it.

"I had a certain talent, but I was also very raw," says Straka about his college years. He chose the American route into the sport and studied at the University of Georgia, where his twin brother Sam was recognized as having greater talent. But Sepp ultimately made it from a highly competitive university environment to the highest echelons of the sport, "because of consistency and hard work," as he himself puts it: "I just felt like I was getting better and better." Straka nevertheless had to endure the slumps of his sport, once nearly losing his eligibility to play in the second division of US golf, a situation that usually threatens a career. From this low point, however, he gradually found the calm, unspectacular, but reliable golf swing that has now earned him four titles at the age of 32.

So he's one of the most successful golfers on the planet right now, a near-certain Ryder Cup participant again this fall. He's also a husband, father of a son, proud wearer of a defiantly shaved head (hair loss!) – and since Monday, he's also been blessed with the recognition of an appearance on the main news at home. "This year has been good to me," says Straka.

The question remains: what's next? The answer is obvious: Top-ten players are usually measured by the number of major titles they've won, so it would be the logical next step in Straka's career. The next opportunity for that comes Thursday, at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Incidentally, no Austrian has ever won one of the four major tournaments.