Thomas edges List for playoff victory
PALM BEACH GARDENS — The Honda Classic couldn’t get the script right. It wasn’t decided by a Tiger roar or a grind through the Bear Trap.
Three players emerged from PGA National’s wet and wild big three (holes 15, 16, 17), usually the great decider on the Champion Course, still in lockstep in the final round as the shadows lengthened late Sunday afternoon.
Ultimately, it took a sudden-death playoff to settle the matter after Justin Thomas and Luke List finished 72 holes knotted at 8-under par.
Thomas, the reigning PGA Player of the Year, sank a 6-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole, No. 18, to take the title a year after missing the cut. He punctuated the eighth win of his career on the PGA Tour and first of 2018 with an emphatic expletive that resonated on the television broadcast.
“It was an emotional win and I was happy to get it done. I did not know that was on TV. So I apologize to everybody who heard it,” said Thomas, who moved to No. 2 in the world rankings. “I guess I let my emotions out there. Sorry.”
Last year, Thomas missed the cut but drove down from his Jupiter home and waited by the same green to congratulate Rickie Fowler on the victory. This time it was Fowler who missed the cut and was there to return the favor.
Earlier, Thomas and List, in the final pairing, both birdied the final hole to eliminate Alex Noren, who was already in the clubhouse at 7-under.
So they turned on their heels and headed back to the 18th tee to try it again with the sun setting.
List, a Californian seeking his first win on Tour, sent his drive into trees to the right of the fairway and put his second shot into spectators to the left of the green, coming to rest a foot from the wall of the viewing stands.
He made a nice recovery after a relief drop, but List’s adventure opened the door for Thomas, who put his second shot on the green to set up a routine birdie.
“Yeah, I’d like to have that tee shot back in the playoff,” List said. “Obviously, it hurts right now, but I think that when I look back on it, I’ll be proud of the way I hung in there.”
For much of the day it was a virtual dead-heat among five players with Tommy Fleetwood and Webb Simpson also taking turns in the lead. Bogeys on the backside dropped Fleetwood to a fourth-place finish at 6-under and Simpson to a tie for fifth with Byeong Hun An, who matched the best round of the day at 65.
Noren, a native of Sweden who lives in Jupiter, posted his second top-three finish in four events.
Tiger Woods finished a respectable 12th at even-par after closing with a 70.
They call the tricky three-hole gauntlet on the back nine the Bear Trap in honor of Jack Nicklaus, but it was the Tiger Trap this week.
Woods got to 3-under by sinking an 18-foot birdie putt on 14 to move into a tie for sixth. Then he strolled into the Bear Tap and plunked his tee shot into the water well short of the green on 15. That led to a double bogey that effectively sunk his hopes for a late rally.