"Very clever woman"

What was going on with Sepp & the former US Secretary of State?

Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice played a practice round with Sepp Straka in Augusta and also followed his game during the US Masters.(Bild: Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The way Sepp Straka kept up with the best field of the year so far at the US Masters was tremendous. His 16th place is world class! He thus replaced Bernd Wiesberger (22nd place in 2015) as the best Austrian at Augusta. Sepp's first coach Claude Grenier reminisced about the great days with his former protégé at a barbecue in Augusta after the final.

It all began on April 7 with a practice round with Condoleezza Rice. Sepp said of the former US Secretary of State: "She is very smart and extremely nice. I had a great time with her and really enjoyed the round with her." The discussions with Phil Mickelson, who played the first two days with Straka, were also very inspiring for him.

Sepp Straka mastered the difficult conditions at the US Masters.(Bild: AFP)

"One of the best rounds ever"
The personal highlight for Sepp was the second round on Friday. Although the wind conditions were by far the most difficult, Sepp played his best round with a 71. Afterwards he said: "That was probably one of my best rounds ever." For my partner Andrea and me, it was extremely noticeable that we didn't see any insects in the stormy wind on the first two days. It wasn't until the weekend that butterflies fluttered across the course.

Sepp Straka with his first trainer Claude Grenier and his partner Andrea Hendler.(Bild: Zur Verfügung gestellt)

"Scheffler as if from another planet"
Before Sepp drove to the next tournament on Hilton Head Island in a luxury Mercedes provided by the organizer, he said of winner Scottie Scheffler, who won with eleven under par, four strokes ahead of rookie Ludvig Aberg: "He plays like he's from another planet." A look at his last four starts shows how Scheffler is currently dominating events on the US Tour: victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, victory at the Players Championship, second place at the Houston Open and now triumph at the Masters. At these four events alone, he collected prize money of around 12.7 million dollars (11.9 million euros).

Claude Grenier was at the US Masters at the invitation of his former golf student Sepp Straka and reported on the entire week of the tournament for the "Krone".(Bild: Krone KREATIV, zVg., AFP)

"I love you and I'm coming home now"
Scheffler himself said after his triumph: "I have no words for what it means to me to win this tournament for the second time." During his speech, he also emotionally addressed his heavily pregnant wife Meredith via TV: "I love you and I'm coming home now." That was very touching.