Justin Thomas is a PGA Tour winner and he got his breakthrough win on Sunday at the CIMB Classic the old fashioned way.
The kid absolutely earned it down the stretch at the Kuala Lumpur Golf Club.
He out-dueled former Masters champ Adam Scott, Kevin Na and Brendan Steele to pick up his first title, one that most consider long over-due.
Thomas won by rebounding from an awful shot at the par four 14th hole that saw him chunk a wedge shot into the water off a downhill lie that resulted in what could have been a costly double-bogey.
But the 22-year-old rising star bounced back with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to shoot 67 and got to 26-under par, a new tournament record in the event. He edged Scott by a shot.
“The thing I told myself is I really didn’t do it because I was nervous. I’ve been struggling with downhill lies all week,” Thomas said of the shot he hit fat at 14. “I told myself I just needed to get back in it. I had four more holes to try to make some birdies.”
That’s exactly what he did, getting birdies on three of the four. He had to because Adam Scott put the pressure on all day and threw a nine-under par 63 at everyone. Scott apparently began to feel pretty comfortable going back to the short putter and using a claw grip.
Kevn Na, the King of Runner-up finishes, broke his run and finished tied for third with Steele at 24-under. But there is no denying that Na is playing the best golf of his career and is now inside the top 24 players in the world and he’ll have a chance to win next week at the WGC HSBC Championship in Shanghai.
