“Didn’t sleep...very good”: Sepp Straka gets honest on nerves at the PGA Championship following big Truist win

Sepp Straka has something going for him this week that very few other golfers do. He's coming immediately off a win one week earlier as he heads into the second Major of the year. He's got as much momentum as anyone in the field.

Will that help him? He believes so. The golfer has now won twice on the PGA Tour this season, and those experiences have proven to be quite valuable every time he goes out.

Despite that, he's not immune to nerves. The PGA Championship is one of the biggest events of his life, and he's nervous about it:

"A little bit tired. Didn't sleep quite, very good on Sunday night. A little better Monday night and then really well last night, so that's kind of been the big goal this week to recharge the batteries."

He opened up on how nervous he was at the Truist Championship and how that'll help him this week at Quail Hollow:

"Any time you can get in contention and feel those feelings and try to perform while you're feeling that, it helps you the next time you feel that. Obviously, a Major, you'll be a little more nervous, a little heightened senses. Any time you can deal with that, it helps you when you're in that situation."

Straka's best finish in a Major was a T2 in the Open Championship in 2023. He was six shots back of Brian Harman.

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Sepp Straka reveals differences between regular and Major tournaments

Winning a PGA Tour tournament, which Sepp Straka has done twice (American Express and Truist Championship) this year, is no easy feat. Winning a Major is even harder, and Straka has yet to accomplish that.

Sepp Straka is looking for his first Major win (Image via Imagn)

There are mental challenges in both, though the hurdles for one's first career Major win are magnified. Straka said in one of his pre-Major press conferences:

"It's kind of like a regular tournament, but everything's just multiplied. So your feelings are multiplied, the leaderboards are multiplied, it's big fields. A lot of very talented players, the best players in the world playing, and everyone wants to peak at those tournaments, so it makes it really competitive, makes it really tough. I think that's the big difference."

Everything is enhanced in a Major, thus making it much harder to beat the best golfers over four full days. At the Masters Tournament earlier this year, Straka shot five over and missed the cut.