Justin Thomas needed a little luck down the stretch Sunday at the WGC-St. Jude and he got it.
“I got unbelievably lucky,” was how J.T. described what transpired on the final holes at TPC Southwind and that luck helped him notch his lucky 13th PGA Tour win and vaulted him back to No. 1 in the world rankings.
Thomas’ first big break came when he hit his tee shot too far left at the short 15th, fearing it would hit the trees, he screamed: “Get lucky!” And that’s exactly what happened. His ball cleared all the trees, caught the cart path and bounced forward, settling just 45 yards from the hole in a fluffy lie. He then created his own luck with a perfect pitch that left him an easy two-footer for birdie.
He needed it, Brooks Koepka was hot on his heels.
Thomas got more luck at the easy par five 16th, where his drive went way right. He went for the green but caught a tree branch and his ball kicked into the first cut left of the fairway. Then from 64 yards he hit another perfect pitch shot to three feet. He made birdie, got to 13 and flipped the heat to Koepka. Thomas made a nice par from the rough at 17 while Koepka slopped up the 16th, taking bogey and falling two back of Thomas.
Thomas finished with yet another wayward drive at the 18th — it sailed right but left him with a shot to the green. He played to the right then made another perfect pitch to two feet to finish with 65 — 13-under for the championship.
Koepka bounced back with a long birdie putt at the 17th to get back to 12-under but saw his chances vanish when he pulled his tee shot at the 18th into the water left. He’d make double and fall back to 10-under to finish in a four-way tie for second with Phil Mickelson, Daniel Berger and Tom Lewis, who shot 61-66 for the weekend.
This was a day where the two best players rose to the top — Thomas and Keopka. Overnight leader Brandon Todd had another final round nightmare — no birdies and an ugly 75 that dropped him all the way into a tie for 15th at seven-under. Rickie Fowler started with two birdies over the first three holes but after that, he fell apart at the seams, eventually shooting 73 and finishing in that group at seven-under.
Same for Ben An, who played in the final twosome with Todd. An shot 73 and finished at eight-under.
Down the stretch, it was Thomas who kept his cool the best, even in the face of tough shots.
“I said ‘get lucky’ — there’s a lot of luck involved,” Thomas pointed out, recounting his tee shot at the 15th. “Somehow, that calmed me down. You win when you get those kind of breaks.”
Thomas helped his cause with just 25 putts for the round. He had Jim “Bones” Mackay on the bag and his experience showed.
“I hung on and stayed patient and positive,” said the new No. 1.
Thomas will head for the PGA Championship this week as one of the solid favorites.
He’ll grab the bulk of the attention at Harding Park leading up to Thursday’s start — and rightfully so — he’s back at No. 1 and has three wins this season and a total of 13 wins at the tender age of 27.
Not bad, J.T., not bad at all.
8 Comments
baxter cepeda
Tiger will probably grab the bulk of the attention. But JT should be the favorite.
Jt was very lucky.
I was thinking everyone should hit it there, but then I saw he hit the cart path before going thru the tree and finally settling in the rough.
Brooks stayed strong all week but that drive on 18 was so disappointing. Im actually not a big believer of these pull fades so many bombers play with because of this miss precisely. I find when the going gets tough the pull faders just pull quite often.
Aside from luck Justin won because he can play a few different shots.
Speaking of different shots Lefty added a few sublime short game shots this week. Soon my bunker shots, crazy flops, ‘Top Gun’ had it all Going. Phil looks great.
Rickie Always looks great until he finds the inevitable, water. I’m jaded watching rickie. I feel he will eventually throw it away and that what he did again I wish rickie learned to take the foot off the pedal on those watery holes. Jack always talks about his strategies for such dangerous holes. Rickie is a sublime player but he makes too many dumb mistakes. So much so that I’m beginning to wonder if Fowler needs a caddie change more than anyone.
Lucky for JTs caddie, jimmy, Bones is going back to tv so JJ will still have that magical bag of JTs. But if Jimmy continues to struggle with health, Bones and JT would win a lot of majors together. Listening to bones caddie…he really is the best. The perfect combination of great info/insight and calmness.
Tom Edrington
Baxter, thanks for your insights, they are spot-on as usual; Yes, Rickie lets his fans down all the time but hey, he’s still Rickie and everyone loves Rickie! With JT’s caddie, JJ, he’s not exactly a small guy and the heat isn’t good for overweight guys; Weather will be quite cool in ‘Frisco, highs 66 or so, lows 55, which begs the question can Tiger perform in cooler temps? Remains to be seen.
baxter cepeda
I don’t know about tiger this week. Zozo reminds me of Hardin Park. I believe it was kinda cool there when tiger won. But that was then.
Tiger went to college in the bay area, But that was way back when.
My prediction is It can happen, which is better than the vast majority of guys in the field. But it’s hardly tiger vs the field; or even top 5 favorite status. Obviously the health questions make tiger a tricky pick.
Lets just hope he can play healthy, which means he would be in contention. And we know what usually happens from there.
With so many majors coming up in a short time frame, tiger critically needs his health.
Tom Edrington
First and foremost, that short game better be in order; I was surprised how poorly he putted in his last appearance at Memorial.
baxter cepeda
But what is JT supposed to do ?
call bones in off the bench on hot weeks he isn’t working for nbc? And his pops the weeks bones works?
Bones looked tore up towards the end of his time with Phil, he struggled walking. After a nice Extended break from looping bones looks way healthier again.
Like bones Jj may need more time to recover. if that is the case how easy or difficult would it be for bones to transition from nbc to doing what he does best?
Clearly Not very hard at all.
Tom Edrington
Bones had double knee replacement surgery after his time with Phil that why he looked so bad; Bones had made a LOT of money; picked up a hefty check from JT; TV doesn’t pay chump change either.
baxter cepeda
Yea the Knees surgeries seems the main reason for lefty-bones split.
I like bones on tv.
But he is a legendary caddie.
Maybe not someone of JT status but I could see players agreeing to give bones 20% for wins because his overall caddie game has that much to offer. Imo.
Tom Edrington
Bones is no spring chicken, does he want to be the next “Fluff”?