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Sepp Straka watches his shot during the 125th U.S. OPEN at Oakmont Country Club.
Australian golfer and World No. 10 Sepp Straka, has withdrawn from the 2025 BMW Championship. The 32-year-old is currently ranked No. 5 in FedExCup standings. After a T17 finish last weekend at the FedExCup St. Jude Championship, Straka will move on to the Tour Championship despite missing out on the penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs.
Decision to Withdraw
Straka’s decision to withdraw comes unexpectedly, with his manager, Butler Melnyk, releasing a statement saying,
“For personal reasons, Sepp is unable to play this week. He intends to compete at the TOUR Championship, but requests privacy at this time as he attends to a family matter at home,” said Melnyk.
Despite a lack of details on what the personal matter might be, many fans on X remain supportive of Straka, sending positive messages and well wishes for him and his family. Others, however, called attention to the playoff format of the FedExCup.
Best wishes to Straka and his family. Hope everything is alright.
As a sport, it’s a joke that Rory skipped week 1 of the “playoffs” but let’s call that a bye week for exceptional season long performance. But now someone can skip week 2 and still advance to 3?!? How is that…
— Trevor Ralph (@TRalph30) August 12, 2025
FedExCup Playoff Format
The news comes after Rory McIlroy sat out on the 2025 FedExCup St. Jude Championship. While this year is already set in stone, PGA Tour officials may be looking at changes for next year to ensure players are in attendance for all playoff events. However, there may be some disagreement on the decision. When asked, Webb Simpson, player director for the Tour board, didn’t have a problem with McIlroy’s decision.
“I think it’s too hard of a thing to make guys have to play. We’re still a sport where you can play when you want to play,” Simpson said.
That perspective brings up a necessary point. If players want to take a week off, regardless of the reason, should they be penalized? While missing out on the FedExCup St. Jude Championship may not have had an immediate impact on McIlroy, he remains in second place, it did allow other players to close in on him point-wise.
In other years, when players like Scottie Scheffler aren’t dominating the leaderboard, missing out on a playoff weekend could result in greater consequences. For example, in 2020-2021, Collin Morikawa took home the win over Brooks Koepka by a mere 395 points. Last weekend alone, Rickie Fowler and Andrew Novak took home 366 points with their T6 finish.
That being said, if Straka needs to take a week off, there are sure to be negatives to his decision, but as an athlete who is not a part of a team sport, shouldn’t the decision be his to make?
Remainder of 2025 for Straka
Thanks to Straka’s 2025 performance, his decision to withdraw will not affect his top 30 spot in the FedExCup standings. A win in January at The American Express and another win in May at the 2025 Truist Championship, along with multiple top 10 finishes, provided Straka with enough FedExCup points to mathematically guarantee him a spot at the Tour Championship.
Currently, Sepp finds himself in 6th place in the European Ryder Cup standings. His absence this weekend could result in him losing out on that top spot to Shane Lowry or Ludvig Aberg. However, even is Straka were to fall in standings, he will likely still make the European Ryder Cup team. His impressive world ranking and solid 2025 season almost guarantee it.
With no alternatives in the playoff event, only 49 golfers will be on the course at Caves Valley Golf Club starting August 14th. Straka intends to return to the course on August 21st at East Lake Golf Club for the Tour Championship.
Sydney Jones Sydney Jones is a sports writer covering all things golf for Heavy.com. She has experience covering the intersection of sports and human interest stories for multiple publications. Originally from Montana, she recently relocated to Seattle and is enjoying the new experience of watching professional sports live while writing about them. More about Sydney Jones
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