Justin Thomas shoots a 4-under 68 to beat Lee Westwood by a stroke at the Players Championship.
The resilience it takes to get through a nerve-jangling Sunday at Sawgrass was nothing compared with what Justin Thomas had been through already this year.
An otherwise impeccable start to his career on and off the course came under scrutiny in January with a slip of the tongue when he muttered an anti-gay slur under his breath that cost him one sponsor and led another to publicly reprimand him. Tougher still was the death last month of his grandfather, Paul, part of the legacy of golf pros in the Thomas family.
He found the right time to deliver a gem.
Thomas took on every shot in The Players Championship, right down to the 5-wood that rode the edge of the lake down the left side of the 18th fairway, and closed with a 4-under 68 for a one-shot victory over Lee Westwood.
He won for the seventh straight year, his 14th career title, and became only the fourth player to win a major, The Players Championship, the FedEx Cup and a World Golf Championship.
“It’s been a crappy couple months. I’ve had stuff happen in my life I never thought I’d have happen,” Thomas said. “Losing grandpa was terrible, and having to play a round of golf dealing with that, and then on top of that not playing well, it just was a lot, and it took a lot on me mentally.
“This week was huge to win a big championship like this in front of fans again, which is incredible. It tested me mentally, physically, emotionally, and I’m very proud of myself for getting it done.”
Like most Sundays at this
championship, it was wild as ever.
Thomas was four shots behind when he walked off the green on the par-3 eighth with a three-putt bogey. Four holes later, he walked off the 12th green with a two-shot lead.
He hit a 5-iron to 20 feet to set up a two-putt birdie on the par-5 ninth. He took on a tough pin at No. 10 for a 6-foot birdie. He drilled a 4-iron to 20 feet for an eagle at No. 11 for his first lead of the week, and he capped off the run with a nifty pitch from behind the green on the reachable par-4 12th for birdie.
Westwood was a hard-luck runner-up for the second straight week — to Bryson DeChambeau at Bay Hill, to Thomas at The Players, two
major champions who were born in 1993, the year the 47year-old Westwood turned pro.
He was tied for the lead until he couldn’t match Thomas, playing in the group ahead, on the par-5 16th.
Thomas teed it low and slung a hard, low draw that ran out some 40 yards and set up a 5wood into 50 feet, which he lagged down for a two-putt birdie. Westwood’s 3-iron clipped a tree and dropped into the sand, and that quirky 65-yard shot went into another bunker and forced him to scramble for par.
“When you’re in contention, you’d like to win every tournament you’re playing in,” Westwood said after a 72. “But I didn’t quite have my game today.”
He made birdie on the 18th to finish alone in second. DeChambeau (71) and Brian Harman (69) were another shot behind.
Thomas finished at 14-under 274. He was outside the cut line after nine holes Friday, made it with two shots to spare and then tied The Players Championship record with a 12-under 132 weekend.
Elsewhere
Antoine Rozner of France holed a 60-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 2-under 69 and a one-shot victory over Guido Migliozzi in the Qatar Masters in Doha, moving him high enough in the world ranking to qualify for the World Golf Championship in Texas in two weeks.
GOODYEAR, Ariz.
As spring training progressions go, the second Cactus League start for Yu Darvish was business as usual.
He extended his workload from two innings to three.
He remained unscored upon and again allowed only one baserunner, a hit batter with two outs in his final inning.
He improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio this spring to 7-to-0 while throwing 26 of his 43 pitches for strikes.
One pitch in particular impressed his batterymate. He made sure to say so as the 34-year-old Darvish answered questions in Japanese on Sunday afternoon.
“Change-up, bueno,”
catcher Victor Caratini said with a smile while entering the videoconference frame. He showed a change-up grip to those on the call as Darvish chuckled and repeated the praise: “Changeup, bueno.”
No translation needed. He’d already elaborated on what he liked about his afternoon.
“All in all I thought I did pretty well,” Darvish said through interpreter Shingo Horie. “I was particularly working on the splitter and the change-up. That came out pretty good. I’m pretty happy with today’s outing.”
Darvish will likely squeeze in another side session before his next start, in five to six days. His last start occurred exactly a week before the Padres’ 10-4 win over the Reds on Sunday. Where he throws next — in a Cactus League game or in a backfield simulated game — has not been determined, but he’s expected to bump up to four innings and 60 pitches.
Of course, where he’s pitching doesn’t matter to Darvish as much as the what he’s doing in that work.
“Not just game by game, but you look at your bullpens and stuff like that and try to compare a little bit with how I was last year at this time and trying to make sense of what I need to do and stuff like that.”
He added: “I think the more innings that I get in, obviously I start getting ready so once we get to four innings, five innings, it’s getting close to season mode.”
Up Hill
Asked to assess the his team at the midway point of the Padres’ Cactus League schedule, Padres manager Jayce Tingler listed the bullpen among the “areas we need to clean up.”
That assessment doesn’t apply to Tim Hill.
The 31-year-old lefthander fired a fourth straight shutout inning Sunday, striking out two batters without giving up a hit. He has struck out eight batters, walked only one and scattered three hits thus far this spring.
Acquired in July for Franchy Cordero and Ronald Bolaños, Hill had a 4.50 ERA in 18 innings his first year in San Diego, up from 3.63 a year earlier with the
Royals.
“He’s been throwing the ball really well all camp,” Tingler said. “I like what he’s doing with the fastball and the secondary pitches as well. He’s looked sharp every time out.”
Notable
In a fight for a spot on the bench, Jorge Mateo has hits in four of his last five games after going 3-for-5 with two doubles and a steal on Sunday, his busiest day this spring as he played all nine innings in right field. Mateo has also seen time in left field, center field and second base and was developed as a shortstop. He is hitting .375/ .484/.500 with three RBIs and five walks against nine strikeouts.
• LHP MacKenzie Gore will follow RHP Joe Musgrove in Tuesday’s game against the White Sox. Gore remains in competition for a spot in the rotation as does LHP Ryan Weathers, who followed Darvish on Sunday with two runs allowed in three innings.
• RHP Anderson Espinoza, once the Padres’ top pitching prospect, is among nine pitchers scheduled to pitch today in Phoenix against the Brewers, although Tingler said not everyone could get into that game as it is scheduled to be eight innings. Espinoza is coming off back-to-back Tommy John surgeries, wiping away the last four seasons of his career.
[ 1 BAYLOR ] The Bears, who have never been higher than a No. 3 seed, won their first regularseason conference championship since 1950.
[ 2 OHIO STATE] The Buckeyes, aiming for their first Final Four appearance since 2012, lost to Illinois in overtime of the Big Ten Conference tournament championship game.
[ 3 ARKANSAS ] The Razorbacks rank seventh nationally in scoring, averaging 82.4 points per game under second-year coach Eric Musselman.
[ 4 PURDUE ] The Boilermakers, who advanced to the Elite Eight in 2019, are making their sixth consecutive tournament appearance.
Cinderella search
Winthrop won its only tournament game in 2007. But the Eagles could be primed to start a tournament run against a Villanova team without injured guard Collin Gillespie.
Top players
Moses Moody, guard, Arkansas
Moody was voted the Southeastern Conference freshman of the year after averaging 17.5 points and 5.7 rebounds. He is regarded as a potential one-and-done standout on his way to the NBA draft.
Neemias Queta, center, Utah State Queta, who was born in Portugal, averaged 15.1 points, 10 rebounds and 3.2 blocked shots. The 7-foot, 245-pound Queta helped Utah State advance to the Mountain West tournament championship game against San Diego State.
Chandler Vaudrin, guard, Winthrop
Vaudrin began his career at Division II Walsh before transferring to Winthrop. This season, he was voted the Big South Conference player of the year after averaging 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds and leading the conference in assists.
Rim shots
Purdue is the only Indiana school that made the 68-team bracket for a tournament that will be played entirely in the Hoosier State.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams is 29-0 in first-round NCAA tournament games. Williams coached 15 seasons at Kansas before taking over at North Carolina in 2003.
Ohio State’s Duane Washington Jr. played in high school at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth and is the nephew of former Laker guard Derek Fisher.