No. 1 Thomas wins Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Justin Thomas won the FedEx St. Jude Invitational on Sunday to take the No. 1 spot in the world for the first time since June 2018.

Thomas dueled defending champion Brooks Koepka down the final holes, 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.

This was the fifth time Thomas 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. inning, sending a three-run drive off the facing of the second deck in left field at Yankee Stadium to give New York a 3-2 lead over the Boston Red Sox in a 9-7 victory.

The previous Yankees hitter to go deep in five straight games was Álex Rodríguez in September 2007. Judge joined A-Rod as the only players in club history to hit five home runs in the first eight games of a season. Rodríguez also did that in 2007.

Judge had never homered in four games in a row until connecting during Saturday night’s 5-2 victory over Boston. The two-time All-Star led the American League with 52 home runs in 2017, when he was the AL Rookie of the Year and runner-up for MVP. Limited by injuries the past two years, he hit 27 homers each season.