VICTORY AT US PGA ‘A HUGE LESSON’

Justin Thomas has put the celebrations of his “unfathomable” US PGA Championship triumph on hold for another week.

Thomas lifted the Wanamaker Trophy for a second time on Sunday, defeating fellow American Will Zalatoris in a threehole aggregate play-off after the pair had finished tied on five under par at Southern Hills.

The former world No 1 began the final round seven shots off the lead and was eight behind after playing his first eight holes in one over, including a bogey on the sixth following a shanked tee shot.

“I haven’t had a chance to watch the full coverage on Sunday, which I’d like to, but I did happen to see (that) when I was putting on nine, I was eight back,” Thomas said in a press conference ahead of this week’s Charles Schwab Challenge.

“I was eight back with 10 holes to go. That’s unfathomable. If I was looking at leaderboards, I probably would not have thought I even had a chance to win. It’s a huge lesson for me. You’ve got to play golf. Those majors and in golf tournaments, anything can happen.”

Thomas won his first major title in the 2017 US PGA at Quail Hollow but had gone more than a year without a win since his victory in last year’s Players Championship at Sawgrass.

“When you’re on a roll and you’re playing really well and you’re fortunate enough to have three, four, five-win seasons, I think you sometimes can take it for granted and forget how incredibly hard it is to win out here,” he added.

Thomas stayed in Tulsa on Sunday evening before making the 300-mile journey to Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is joined by the likes of world number one Scottie Scheffler, Open champion Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth in a strong field.

● Home favourite Joost Luiten is seeking to join the likes of European legends Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer in winning the Dutch Open three times.

The tournament gets under way today at Bernardus golf course and features Fifer Connor Syme and fellow Scots Richie Ramsay, David Law, Grant Forrest, David Drysdale, Stephen Gallacher, Marc Warren, Scott Jamieson and Ewen Ferguson.