Pebble Beach Leader fighting the flu – and beating Rory McIlroy

For the past few weeks, diseases have beaten the PGA tour and forced many players to withdraw from events. Tour Pro Sepp Straka feels the flu this week on 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

But the 31-year-old Austrian pro is not withdrawing from this star-studded signature event. He is Leading it.

“Yes, fought for some flu symptoms out there most of the week,” Straka explained after his third round 70 Saturday. “Yes, frankly, the pro-am format could have helped me the first two days, it was a bit of a slow round, so I could kind of take my time and save some energy.”

Perhaps it is not surprising that the influenza-affected Straka chose to play this week considering the tournament’s purse of $ 20 million. What is surprising is that he beats many of the best players in the world in the process.

World No. 3 Rory McIlroy, who makes his first PGA Tour start of 2025, has been fooling all week. When Straka came on the bogey train mid-Saturday, McIlroy even accused the lead.

But Straka’s collapse did not continue. Instead, he made Birdie on four of his last five holes to take the lead again at 16 under on the way to Sunday.

And that was while he fought wet and windy conditions that tested everyone on Saturday.

“Yes, definitely I feel a little tired, but honestly with these conditions, even though I was 100 percent, I would feel a little tired,” Straka acknowledged on Saturday night.

“It’s mentally pretty drainage,” he continued, taking the difficult conditions. “You can’t stay dry, ball doesn’t go where you want it to go, to put is tough. It’s really hard to kind of stay at the moment, stay in the present. Yes, I was pretty happy about how I did it today. “

As for his illness, Straka revealed that it would rather than hurt him this week, it could help him. He suggested it could improve his focus.

“Yes, you just have to put the feelings on the side and try to perform your golf shots. Frankly, in some ways that might even help, ”Straka explained. “Just has a goal kind of mentally focusing on your golf shots and your goal and yes, it could have helped me a little.”

And while Straka may not be a household name, his performance is understandable considering the recent results. He won three times on the PGA Tour since 2022. And he has already caught a win in 2025 at American Express before McIlroy had played a tour round.

But even with his late Saturday tax, giving him a 54-hole lead, Straka’s path to victory on Sunday is not a simple one. McIlroy shot a 65 Saturday, five shots better than Straka, just as former open master Shane Lowry did.

Both major masters start the day only one shot from the lead. Justin Rose and Tom Kim are another shot at the back.

And of course there is the world’s # 1 Scottie Scheffler, who also makes his first tour start of the season on Pebble. Scheffler lurks quietly at 10am, only five shots behind the leader.

If Straka is capable of holding on and winning despite its “influenza-like symptoms”, it would be Michael Jordan-Esque. His potential reward: $ 3.6 million.

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