Massive Ryder Cup boost for European player - and Rory McIlroy knows it

Sepp Straka handed himself a massive Ryder Cup boost by winning the PGA Tour’s latest Signature Event - and Rory McIlroy was the first person to remind him of that.

The Austrian landed his fourth PGA Tour title triumph after holding off both Irishman Shane Lowry and American Justin Thomas to win the Truist Championship at The Philadelphia Cricket Club.

"It is huge, the biggest win of my career,” said Straka, who closed with a 68 to come out on top by two shots on 16-under-par, of a victory that lifted him eight spots to ninth in the world rankings.

Sepp Straka poses with the trophy after winning the Truist Championship at The Wissahickon at Philadelphia Cricket Club in Pennsylvania | Andrew Redington/Getty Images

It was the 32-year-old’s second victory of the season on the US circuit after his triumph in The American Express earlier in the year. This one, though, counted in Europe’s qualification battle for the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in September, as McIlroy was quick to point out.

“He told me at least this win counts for Ryder Cup points,” said Straka when asked what The Masters champion and grand slam winner had said to him when he was there at the end to congratulate him. “Yeah, really, really happy for that. I've been kind of behind in the points because of that win at Amex not counting.”

Straka made his debut in the biennial event as Europe regained the trophy in Rome in 2023 and, having moved into an automatic spot, now looks a certainty to be in Luke Donald’s team once again for the trophy defence on Long Island.

Eighth European win of 2025 PGA Tour season

“I knew that if I just kept playing good golf, I would have a chance to be there,” he added, having also climbed to second behind McIlroy on the FedEx Cup points list. “I'm sure this will probably help me out with the rankings a lot. So very grateful, and hopefully I can keep the good play going and keep getting some more points.”

Eight PGA Tour events have now fallen to European players this season, with McIlroy landing three of them, Straka adding his brace and Thomas Detry, Ludvig Aberg and Viktor Hovland having also tasted success.

Though two bogeys in the final three holes cost Lowry his chances of winning on this occasion, the 2019 Open champion cemented his position as one of the six current automatic qualifiers with a second runner-up finish this season.

Sepp Straka is embraced by Shane Lowry at the end of their final-round battle in the Truist Championship | Emilee Chinn/Getty Images

“Yeah, it was great,” said Straka of going toe-to-toe with the Irishman. “Shane's an awesome guy. He's one of my favorite people to play with. He's a fiery competitor but a really good friend as well. It was really fun battling with him.”

Straka, who tied for second behind Brian Harman in The Open in 2023, now heads to Quail Hollow this week for the PGA Championship.

“Last week I actually didn't touch a golf club,” he admitted. “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.”

Rory McIlroy feeling ‘good’ heading into PGA Championship

McIlroy, who has won four times at Quail Hollow on the PGA Tour, closed with a bogey-free 68 in Philadelphia to finish joint-seventh. “I felt like I drove it a little better on the back nine today, which was good,” said the world No 2.

“Overall I felt like I got a little better as the week went on. I've got a better gauge of where my game is standing here right now than I did at the start of the week. It was a good week for that. I wish I had gotten myself into contention a little bit more, but it was a good week, especially looking ahead to next week.”

Bob MacIntyre finished joint-34th after signing off with a 67 - his best score of the week - to end up on four-under-par. The Oban man picked up $95,063 but, at the same time, dropped four spots to 48th in the FedEx Cup Standings.