Justin Thomas progression into one of the best players of his generation took a new twist as he won the Dell Technologies Championship on Monday.

The PGA Championship winner closed out his fifth win of the season – throwing him squarely into the ring as a Player of the Year contender – thanks to a five under par 66 and a total of -17; three better than close friend Jordan Spieth.

It was a close run affair all day at TPC Boston with Marc Leishman jumping into the lead with nine holes to play but the Australian suffered a horror back nine of 40 (five over par) to leave the duel to Thomas and Spieth.

Spieth was well in it until his approach on the 18th sailed long and right into the bunker and when he failed to get up and down, it was left ot Thomas in the group behind him to play the 72nd hole without any real pressure.

The win moves Thomas into second on the FedExCup standings behind Spieth, who has finished the first two playoff events in second place. Last week, he had a five shot lead before Dustin Johnson came charging to win in a playoff.

‘I have had a great year, just two more events to finish it off,’ said Thomas.

“Yeah, it was a good day. It was a patient day.

‘It just was a great week because I felt like I didn’t have my best stuff at the start of the week and that’s just something I’ve gotten so much better at, and I’m proud of myself more than anything.’

The top 70 players now head to the BMW Championship next week at Conway Farms Golf Club where they will battle for the 30 spots on offer at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta on 21 September.

Dell Technologies Championship final leaderboard: 

267 – Justin Thomas 71-67-63-66

270 – Jordan Spieth 72-65-66-67

271 – Marc Leishman (AUS) 67-69-65-70

272 – Jon Rahm (ESP) 67-66-71-68, Paul Casey (ENG) 70-65-67-70

273 – Kevin Na 68-69-70-66, Patrick Reed 71-67-69-66, Pat Perez 72-67-67-67, Phil Mickelson 69-67-69-68

274 – Bill Haas 71-70-68-65, Justin Rose (ENG) 72-65-69-68

275 – Stewart Cink 71-68-68-68