Form deserts Thomas as he blows his No 1 chance

IT’S AMAzINg what can happen to a golfer when his lifelong dream becomes so tantalisingly close it is but one good round away. Knowing that he would become the world’s No 1 golfer for the first time if he defeated Bubba Watson yesterday morning to reach the final of the WgC-Dell Match Play Championship, Justin Thomas didn’t sleep very well on Saturday night. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about it, to be perfectly honest, and what it would mean,’ said the refreshingly candid American, 24. You can guess what happened next. The man who breezed through five matches playing peerless golf was a pale shadow of that performer against the revitalised left-hander. Putts that were hitting the centre of the hole and falling below ground were now burning the edges. Iron shots that were previously on the money drifted into danger. The result was a comfortable 3&2 semi-final defeat that means Dustin Johnson will go into the Masters next week with his 14-month reign at the summit intact. Perhaps it’s for the best for the feisty Thomas (below), who has won seven titles during an impressive 18-month run of form, including the last major to be played, the US PgA Championship last August. Winning the Masters would be a better way to reach the peak, wouldn’t it? ‘There was a lot of attention on becoming world No 1 and I allowed myself to get distracted,’ he admitted. ‘It’s been a good lesson for going forward. I need to be mentally stronger than that.’ As for Watson, he’s going to be in the form of his life heading to that sacred place in georgia where he has already claimed two green jackets in 2012 and 2014. The 39year-old went into the final against fellow American Kevin Kisner yesterday afternoon with the chance to join a select group indeed with a victory. The only golfers to have won multiple majors and more than one WgC title since the latter quartet of events began life in 1999 just happen to be the four best players of the last 20 years — Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Rory McIlroy. Watson was supposed to start a family vacation yesterday. ‘We’d booked to fly on Sunday because it was cheaper,’ said the man who’s made just short of $40million on the PgA Tour, probably at least that amount in endorsements, and was playing for another $1.8m first prize here. He’s certainly flying on the course. Thomas might not have had his best stuff, but he fought back from three down with birdies at the seventh and ninth. Watson replied in kind, however, with a birdie at the 10th and when Thomas found the water at the par-five 12th, he was cruising. Kisner and Noren might be the two most underrated players in the game and they displayed all their talents in a classic semi-final. Noren had five birdies in a row from the third and yet the only hole he won was the seventh, after his 34-year-old opponent matched him for the first four. Swede Noren had chances thereafter to extend his lead but paid for his missed opportunities as the dogged Kisner took the match to extra holes. Both players had gone round in 66. At the first extra hole, the signature par-five 12th on the card, it was Kisner who birdied to progress. It meant the first allAmerican final since 2013.