Sepp Straka won The American Express by two shots over Justin Thomas on Sunday, finishing his third career PGA Tour victory at 25-under 263 with a final-round 70.

Straka, the first Austrian to win on the tour three years ago, comfortably marched to victory after taking a four-shot lead into the final round at the venerable Coachella Valley tournament. He didn’t have a bogey in the four-day event until making two in the final three holes, but his competitors couldn’t mount a charge to make it uncomfortable.

The 31-year-old Straka looked cool and collected on PGA West’s Stadium Course— but he wasn’t.

“Nerves, just complete nerves,” Straka said. “Stomach in a knot, the whole nine. So, yeah, just really excited about the way I handed the pressure today.”

Thomas shot a 66 to finish at 23 under, one shot ahead of Justin Lower (69) and Australia’s Jason Day (69) in third. Lower matched the best finish of his tour career.

Patrick Cantlay and Charley Hoffman were 20 under.

Hitting greens regularly and putting capably, Straka was three holes away from becoming the first tour player since 2022 to play 72 bogey-free holes in a victory — until he sprayed his second shot on the 16th into the far right rough behind a berm. His third shot didn’t reach the green, and he barely missed a 17-foot par putt.

Straka’s first major mistake made no difference, nor did his next: He put his approach shot into a bunker on the 18th and then missed a 23-foot par putt, but he buried his 4-foot bogey putt and celebrated with a minimal fist pump.

“This golf course, you can’t really let up,” Straka said. “You’ve still got to make really aggressive swings, because you’re one swing away from a double bogey. I think that was the biggest challenge today was keeping aggressive on my targets.”

Thomas, who finished in a third-place tie at The American Express last year, made six birdies on his first 11 holes in the final round to briefly trim Straka’s lead to three shots. The two-time PGA Championship winner ran out of steam on the back nine in his quest for his first tour victory since 2022, finishing his round with seven consecutive pars.

“I had a chance,” Thomas said. “It wasn’t, obviously, a great one on the back nine, but I was proud of myself. I did what I needed to do on the front nine today to at least be making some noise and moving up the leaderboard. It was unfortunate to kind of stall there after 11. Really, really played some great golf today.”