Thomas returns to No. 1 with strong St. Jude win
Defeats Koepka by three strokes over final holes
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Justin Thomas wants to make his second stint as No. 1 in the world last longer than the first time around.
“I hope so,” Thomas said Sunday after winning the Fedex St. Jude Invitational to take the No. 1 spot in the world for the first time since June 2018. “I feel like I’m a better player, and I feel like I’m more complete of a golfer now than I was then.”
Thomas dueled defending champion Brooks Koepka down the final holes at TPC Southwind, sealing the World Golf Championship victory on the par-5 16th. Thomas took the lead for good with his second straight birdie, while Koepka bogeyed the hole.
Koepka pulled within a stroke with a 39-footer for birdie on No. 17. But Koepka put his tee shot into the water along the 18th fairway on his way to double bogey, allowing Thomas to finish up an easy par putt for what wound up a three-stroke victory.
Thomas closed with a 5-under 66 to finish at 13-under
267 and take the $10.5 million winner’s check for his 13th PGA Tour title. At 27, he became the third-youngest player since
1960 to reach 13 PGA Tour wins, trailing only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.
“I’ve been fortunate to have a good career so far, but I plan on playing out here for a long time and have a lot of things that I still want to accomplish,” Thomas said. “And every milestone and steppingstone is hopefully something that I can learn from and something that will help me even more in the long run.”
One sign of Thomas’ growth was this was the fifth time he rallied to win, and he matched his biggest comeback after starting the day four strokes back of third-round leader Brendon Todd. Thomas has three wins this season, two since the start of the year.
The last time Thomas was No. 1, he spent four weeks at the top of the ranking. He will supplant Jon Rahm, who became No. 1 after winning at Memorial two weeks ago and tied for 52nd this week.
Koepka will go to TPC Harding
Park in San Francisco looking to defend his PGA championship title, and he said he’s feeling good about how he’s playing. He finished with a 69 and tied for second with Phil Mickelson (67), Daniel Berger (65) and Tom Lewis (66).
“I thought I hit a good chip on 16,” Koepka said. “I don’t know what it did. Then another minute I thought it was in for another second. So to make bogey there was disappointing. Obviously drained a big one on 17, and then you’re down one. You’ve got to take an aggressive line on 18, so it is what it is.”
At Toledo, Ohio, Las Vegas resident Danielle Kang carded a 2-under 70 at Inverness Club to win the LPGA
Drive On Championship, the first event on the women’s pro tour in more than five months. Kang, the No. 4 player in the women’s world ranking, finished at 7-under 209, one stroke better than Celine Boutier (71) of France. Kang, Boutier and Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England (75) were tied after Saturday’s third round.
At Truckee, California, Richy Werenski holed a flop shot from the 16th fairway for a five-point eagle and birdied the last hole for a one-point victory over Troy Merritt in the Barracuda Championship. Werenski,
LPGA: PGA:
finishing with 39 points using the modified Stableford scoring system, won for the first time on the tour. He scored 13 points in the final round on Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood Course, the first-time venue after 21 years at Montreux Golf and Country Club. Merritt finished with just five points in the final round, totaling 38 for the event.
Champions:
At Grand Blanc, Michigan, Jim Furyk turned 50 when golf was shut down and made the most of it when the PGA Tour Champions returned, closing with a 4-under 68 to win the Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills when Brett Quigley bogeyed his last two holes. Furyk, who finished at 14-under 202, became the first player since Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2014 to win in his start on the 50-and-older circuit. Quigley (71) tied with Retief Goosen (66) for second, two strokes back.
At Birmingham, England, Sam Horsfield shot a final round 4-under 68 to win the Hero Open by one stroke. The 23-year-old Englishman clinched his first European
Tour title with an 18-under 270 total at Forest of Arden Country Club, holding off second-place Thomas Detry, whose 6-under 66 had briefly given him a share of the lead.
European: