Thomas wins 1st WGC
Grandparents see triumph at final Bridgestone at Firestone
AKRON, Ohio — Nervous at the start, Justin Thomas was in full control at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational to the end. He had a four-shot lead and faced a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would only determine his margin of victory. And then he nearly lost it. He marked his ball, turned toward the back of the green and saw his grandparents, Paul and Phyllis Thomas, who had never seen him win since he joined the PGA Tour.
Paul Thomas is a career club pro who played himself at Firestone Country Club in the 1960 PGA Championship. His grandmother is one of his biggest supporters who navigated her way around the hills of Firestone using a walker in 90-degree heat.
Thomas bowed his head to collect his emotions, which were stronger than when he won the 2017 PGA Championship.
“I just got a huge knot in my throat and I just had to put my head down,” he said after closing with a 1-under 69 for his first WGC title. “I’ve never gotten like that on the golf course before. You just don’t know if they’re ever going to see me win if I don’t win here. So it was pretty cool to get it done.”
They saw a one-man show Sunday that sent Thomas to Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis with high hopes of joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the PGA Championship in stroke play.
Playing in the final group with Rory McIlroy, Thomas, 25, never let anyone closer than two shots of the lead. He made only two birdies and left the mistakes to everyone with range of him. McIlroy finished the front nine with consecutive bogeys and never recovered. Ian Poulter started three shots behind and shot 74. Jason Day made a run with three consecutive birdies to start the back nine, only to play the final six holes in 5 over for a 73.
Thomas could not have asked for a better week. Winless the past five months without feeling as if his game were in disarray, he got the result he needed ahead of the final major of the year. He joined Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson as three-time winners this season.
He lost in a playoff at the Mexico Championship. He lost in the semifinals of the Match Play. At the Bridgestone Invitational, he became the 21st player to win a WGC event and a major.
“It was kind of one of the few things left that I felt I needed to knock off or felt that would have been nice to add to the resume, for sure,” Thomas said.
“To win on a golf course like this, a championship golf course and always against a very tough field, it just felt great.”
Sweetest of all was seeing his grandparents, especially the embrace after he tapped in for par to finish at 15-under 265. Thomas turned his head and placed it comfortably on his grandfather’s shoulder.
So ended a finale at Firestone that otherwise lacked drama. Thomas had not finished better than a tie for 28th in his two previous appearances at Firestone. He wound up winning the final one.