Thomas gets year on track
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Justin Thomas found the right time for a near-perfect performance to put a rough start to the year behind him, rallying from three shots behind with bold play to close with a 4-under 68 and win The Players Championship on Sunday.
Thomas becomes only the fourth player to win a major, The Players Championship, the FedEx Cup and a World Golf Championship, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
He called it as good as he has ever played tee-to-green, and he needed it to outlast Lee Westwood, a hard-luck runner-up for the second straight week. Westwood birdied the final hole for a 72 to finish one shot behind.
Thomas began the year with a barely audible anti-gay slur under his breath after missing a short putt. That led to one corporate sponsor dropping him and another giving him a public reprimand.
The one time he had a chance to win, he learned his grandfather died before the final round of the Phoenix Open.
He was shaken until Sunday at the TPC Sawgrass, where he took on every shot and delivered a gem.
Thomas went birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie around the turn, and put away Westwood for good with a pair of lag putts from 50 feet — one for birdie on the par-5 16th to take the lead, another on the island-green 17th for a par.
Thomas still had one more shot before he was in the clear. He took on the water framing the left side of the 18th fairway, the ball moving right-to-left and bouncing straight off the crown of the first cut, safely in the fairway.
His approach landed on the fringe — the first green he missed all day — leaving a simple two-putt for par and the 14th victory of his PGA Tour career. He returns to No. 2 in the world.
“I fought so hard today,” Thomas said. “It’s probably one of the best rounds of my life tee-to-green. I’ve seen some crazy stuff happen on TV in the past, and I’m glad to be on this side of it.”
All the crazy stuff came early. Bryson DeChambeau, coming off a win last week at Bay Hill, topped an iron off the tee on the par-4 fourth hole that went only about 140 yards until it plunked into the water. From 237 yards on a forward tee to a green protected by water, he hit a slice with a 5-iron some 40 yards right of the green.
“Dude! I don’t know what happened!” he said to his caddie. “I’ve never done that before.”
DeChambeau made double bogey and was scratching the rest of the way to stay in the game. He still had a chance with an eagle on the 16th hole to get within two, but when Thomas made par on the 17th, his chances were about over. DeChambeau shot 71 and tied for third with Brian Harman, who had a 69 and played the final 12 holes without a bogey.
Remember going to crowded outdoor concerts? Hoda Kotb does.
One of the perks of being an anchor on NBC’s “Today” morning show is getting to see Jason
Mraz or Aerosmith belt one out in the middle of New York’s Rockefeller Plaza, with dozens of fans surrounding the stage. That’s just one of many core elements of “Today” that have been scuttled due to the pandemic.
Kotb is eager to see all of it return.
“We want people who have faces in the glass. We want to wave to people who make signs, ” says Kotb during a interview via Zoom as she took a break between her duties on the show’s first two hours and her job co-anchoring its fourth with Jenna Bush Hager. “The minute we can get outside and see people and have them enjoy music together? I dream about that day.”
A year ago, Guthrie and Kotb were sitting within inches of each other, relaying news on March
11, 2020, of a containment area set up around New Rochelle, New York, and of legal proceedings against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. They haven’t been that close in months, staying socially distanced in the studio or, at some moments, much further. Guthrie at times anchored from home to ensure she’d be close to her children. Kotb has come to the studio on every day she has worked.
That disruption has changed the feel of the show. “I’m a team person, I used to play high school basketball, and there’s a team aspect to this. I like the high-fives,” says Kotb. The coronavirus protocols “alter the chemistry.”
As vaccines get distributed and health regulations lift, there is a sense at the show that many of its standbys — familiar elements that people have made part of years-old morning routines — will return.
The last 12 months at “Today” have been fraught with logistical complexities. Guthrie and Kotb felt an even greater mission as the coronavirus forced societal transformation.
The duo found themselves hoping to reassure their audience. “If there is one thing in your life that isn’t changing, it’ s going to be these ladies, showing up with their bad hair we
did ourselves and makeup that’s half off because we don’t know how to do it. But by gosh, we are going to be here,” Guthrie recounts via Zoom from her dressing room.
They had to do so as production shifted all around them. Staffers dispersed across the region to home basements and bedrooms to keep the show going. Meanwhile, broadband hiccups began to percolate as “Today” moved into its second hour, with producers discovering their digital systems were stretched as more people woke up to start their day and logged on to get email, video and more.
After all that, even the most pedestrian of morning segments sounds appetizing — even cooking demonstrations. “I want food back on the plaza,” says Guthrie. “We all want that show back, and it’s coming.”