SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Some say it’s better to be lucky than good. After a 404-yard tee shot Thursday, Sepp Straka is perhaps both.

The FedExCup leader sent his tee shot right of the fairway at TPC Scottsdale’s par-5 15th in the opening round of the WM Phoenix Open, his sixth hole of the day, figuring it would catch the rough and he would lay up to leave a wedge approach. Then his ball bounced off the cart path. And again. And again. Straka saw a bevy of bushes and cacti in the vicinity; suddenly he was worried of a lost ball that could lead to a round-derailing big number.

Alas, Straka arrived at his ball and it was like the sea had parted. After traveling 404 yards, his ball settled between the bushes, somehow leaving a clear angle over water to the green. He knocked an 8-iron from 161 yards to 33 feet, then two-putted for a birdie that moved him to 3-under on the day. No harm, no foul.

“I was thinking the only way this could go bad is if it hits the cart path, so just don’t hit the cart path, because I can stay short of the desert for sure," Straka said afterward. "Sure enough, right on the fly, on the cart path, and then cart path again, cart path again, and then I look out and it looks like 90% bushes and trees right there, so I think I probably just got a pretty bad break. And then I walk up there and I’ve got an 8-iron into a par 5. That was the luckiest break I could’ve gotten there."

Straka admitted, “To miss all those bushes and trees and all that, I don’t know that I really have had a luckier one than that … I should’ve been just laying up into the fairway from the rough over there, and then I hit a cart path, so from that point it was all luck.”

Straka later fell back to even-par before closing with a 16-foot birdie to post 1-under 70, four strokes behind morning wave co-leaders Justin Thomas and Nicolai Højgaard.

It has been a strong start to 2025 for Straka, who represented the European Team at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, Italy, and seeks a second straight European Team appearance this fall at Bethpage Black. The Austrian won The American Express last month for his third career PGA TOUR title, then held the 54-hole lead at last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before sliding to a T7 finish. Straka stands No. 16 on the Official World Golf Ranking, and his current form suggests he could climb even higher.

Straka isn’t necessarily one of the game’s longest hitters. He ranked No. 146 on TOUR in Driving Distance last season (294.7 yards), and he stood No. 144 this year into the WM Phoenix Open. His effort at TPC Scottsdale’s 15th hole Thursday won’t hurt those numbers, though.

“All muscle,” he quipped afterward.