KAWAGOE, Japan – Sam Straka is quick to point out he’s the older of the two Straka brothers – “By two minutes,” he said, smiling.
It’s a distinction only twins can share and one that follows to this day, even at 28 years old. It was, after all, Sam Straka, who convinced his “younger” brother that golf, not soccer, was the sport for them. In a rare moment of sibling honesty, Sepp Straka admits it was Sam who drew him to the game.
“Despite two golf-mad parents, my twin brother, Sam, is the real reason I play the game,” Sepp Straka said in 2019.
Sam Straka is sheepish when asked about that crucial decision. “My parents really did,” he demurred. “I pushed golf a little bit harder when we first started playing and we did everything together so he just followed along.”
Sepp Straka also counts Sam as the person who influences him the most in life, so it should be no surprise that when the younger brother got the call to play for Austria in this week’s Olympic men’s competition it would be Sam on his bag.
The two had shared nearly every golf experience in their lives, and this would be no different.
The Straka brothers arrived in Tokyo for this year’s Summer Games from Austria via Valdosta, Georgia, where the family moved when they were 14. Sepp Straka used to say he was 50-percent Austrian (from his father) and 50-percent American (mother). That was until a friend offered another take, “he corrected me and said I’m a hundred percent Austrian and a hundred percent American.”
On Thursday at Kasumigaseki Country Club, Sepp Straka was 100-percent perfect on his way to an 8-under 63 and an early two-stroke lead. It was a bogey-free effort and a new tournament record thanks to a closing run that included four birdies in five holes (Nos. 13 to 17) that looked far too easy.
“If you just put it in the fairway on this course you can really take advantage and I got hot with my irons, especially my short irons and wedges,” said Sepp Straka, who became the first player from Austria to earn a PGA Tour card in 2019. “I was really knocking down the flagstick and really tried to stay aggressive with those.”
Full-field scores from the Olympic Men’s Competition
On a day when some of the game’s best players talked of the unyielding pressure of playing for a medal, the younger Straka sounded as if he and Sam didn’t have a care in the world. Maybe that’s by design. Sam Straka played college golf with Sepp at the University of Georgia, and although his day job is real estate, he remains a big part of his brother’s inner circle. So, when the Olympics called it was always going to be a package deal.
“When he figured out he was going to be in the Olympics we figured it’d be a good one for me to caddie,” Sam Straka said. “I usually do about one or two a year and pick and choose my spots. We started talking about it and it was always part of the plan.”
Along with those occasional cameos on his brother’s bag, Sam Straka has also spent time caddying for Chris Kirk on Tour, so there was no learning curve this week. In fact, having Sam along only seemed to intensify Sepp Straka’s appreciation of the moment.
“It was great. It was awesome. It was a dream come true for us to be out there together and we had a blast,” Sepp Straka said. “It was one of those days that will be in my memory forever.”
These Summer Games have been on the Straka brother’s radar for the better part of five years, ever since the duo watched the ’16 Games and realized how close they were to a very unique dream.
“Good time. It was fun today,” said Sam Straka, who grew up in Vienna but sounds more Valdosta with a welcoming drawl. “But it would have been fun even without his score [a tournament-record 63]. We’ve both been big Olympics fans. The atmosphere this morning was awesome, that made it real when we walked to the putting green.”
A tournament-record round made the Straka brothers a headline on Day 1, but it was always going to be a special day.