The Green Mile wrecked havoc all week, but not for Justin Thomas on Sunday as he tamed the famed stretch to win the 99th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
The cliche that a Major isn’t decided until the back nine on Sunday rang true in North Carolina as the local crowd were treated to a festival of ups and downs throughout the afternoon.
In total there were eight players within two of the lead at some point late in the day and one by one they finished, but without doing enough to force any dramatic error from Thomas.
First was Rickie Fowler, who made four birdies in a row before playing the Green Mile in level, with two clutch par saves to set the clubhouse target at five-under. Fowler was left to rue his bogey, double, bogey finish yesterday as Francesco Molinari saved par for a 67 on Sunday to post a six-under tally.
That was matched by Patrick Reed, who thrilled the crowd with some Ryder Cup-esque style play down the stretch. Reed birdied 14 and almost chipped in for eagle on 15, but his closing bogey saw him fall out of the running.
Thomas’ playing partner Hideki Matsuyama began the day as arguably the favourite, just one behind, but his back nine recovery – birdies on 14 and 15 – was not enough to restore the damage by his trio of bogeys to kickstart the back nine. In truth, his day never got going as he struggled with the flat stick, and then his ball striking left him just when it mattered most.
Louis Oosthuizen floated in and out of the picture all day, but despite a dramatic chip-in for eagle on 15, he never got close enough to seriously challenge Thomas for the championship. Oosthuizen made the turn level after cancelling out his opening bogey with a birdie on the seventh.
He failed to birdie the 10th with a wayward pull from the tee, and then hit a big fade on 11 as his game could not match his intensity. When it did, drama followed, with the eagle on 15 and then sinking a 60-foot putt on the last to end in a share of second place – a week that might’ve been for the much-liked South African.
Thomas, playing with the demons of his poor Sunday at the US Open, began the day in horrific fashion when he sank a 15+ foot putt for bogey on the first after being bunkered off the tee, then finding the greenside bunker for two. He played a sloppy shot which sailed the green to find the other greenside trap, and calmly sank his first putt to limit the damage. A birdie followed immediately after as you got the feeling that no collapse was coming.
His 36-foot birdie putt on nine was one such sign.
The golf gods were with him when his drive on 10 cannoned in the trees left of the fairway, but the ball spat out on to the middle of the fairway. The drama on that hole was not done, as his birdie putt hung on the lip of the hole for an age before dramatically tippling over to move him to seven-under.
A chip-in birdie on 13 got the crowd roaring with approval and bogeys on 11 and 12 from Kevin Kisner meant that Thomas was now alone in front – a position that he never surrendered.
And then came two defining moments. First, his 60-foot sand save on the 16th, before absolutely flushing his 7-iron to 15 feet to set up his sixth birdie of the day.
His lead was two at the tee on 18, but three by the time he played his ball from the fairway bunker following another Kisner bogey, with Matsuyama in the hazard off the tee and now completely out of the picture.
Thomas played smart, but left himself 60 yards to the green in thick rough – ultimately keeping his cool as he found the green and two-putted his way to the Wanamaker Trophy.
After two wins back to back in Hawaii to start the season, his Sunday implosion at Erin Hills at the US Open, and beginning his career in the shadow of his good friend Jordan Spieth, Thomas is now a Major winner and the new number six in the world.
The son of two PGA professionals, confirmed as one of the world’s elite.
Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
