JUSTIN TIME — AGAIN
Pereira’s meltdown on 18th opens door for Thomas to top Zalatoris in playoff for 2nd PGA title
TULSA, Okla. — Justin Thomas didn’t pay attention to any score but his own Sunday in the PGA Championship, knowing he was seven shots behind but with only six players ahead of him on a course where anything could happen.
He never could have dreamed how it all played out, a chaotic final hour of pressure moments, clutch putts and unimaginable heartache for Mito Pereira.
Thomas hit a shank on the sixth hole. He made a 65-foot birdie putt that began his record-tying comeback. He missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole that he feared would cost him. He never led until one hole remained in his three-hole aggregate playoff against Will Zalatoris.
And when Thomas tapped in for par to capture his second PGA Championship, he stood on the 18th green with a mixture of joy and disbelief.
‘‘I was asked early in the week what lead is safe, and I said, ‘No lead,’ ’’ Thomas said. ‘‘I can’t believe I found myself in a playoff.’’
Thomas closed with a 3-under-par 67 that turned out to be enough for a playoff when Pereira, a 27-year-old from Chile who hadn’t trailed all day, drove into a creek and made a double bogey on the 18th hole to finish one shot behind. It was the first time since Phil Mickelson at Winged Foot in the 2006 U.S. Open that a player gave away a one-shot lead on the final hole to lose a major.
‘‘Sad to hit it in the water,’’ said Pereira, who was playing in only his second major. ‘‘I mean, I wish I could do it again.’’
Still he found a way to look on the bright side of things.
‘‘On Monday [of last week], I just wanted to make the cut,’’ Pereira said. ‘‘On Sunday, I wanted to win. I’ll take this to learn for the future.’’
Just like in his first PGA title at Quail Hollow in 2017, the signature shot for Thomas came on the 17th hole, the second of the aggregate playoff. He drilled a 3-wood on the 301-yard par-4 to 35 feet for a two-putt birdie to take his first lead of the day.
Zalatoris, whose must-make eight-footers for birdie and par on the final two holes of regulation got him into the playoff with a 1-over 71, couldn’t deliver in overtime. His eight-foot birdie putt on the 17th in the playoff missed, and he couldn’t catch Thomas at the end.
Zalatoris looked like he had thrown away his chances for his first major — and first PGA Tour victory — when he three-putted from just outside 20 feet on the 16th. But he responded with a birdie from the bunker at the 17th and holed an eight-foot par putt on the 18th.
He joined Thomas at 5-under 275 after 72 holes, and they were able to play on when Pereira faltered.
Thomas, who had gone 14 months since his last victory at The Players Championship last year, now has a tour victory in each of the last eight years and will move to No. 5 in the world when the new rankings are released.
His second major came when he least expected it. None of the six players ahead of him entering play Sunday had won a major, but he was in the longest victory drought of his career since his first tour title.
‘‘I remember how tough it is now to win, so I knew I was going to be nervous and I knew they’d be feeling the exact same thing,’’ Thomas said of those ahead of him. ‘‘You just don’t know what’s going to happen.’’
John Mahaffey in the 1978 PGA Championship at Oakmont was the only other player to come from seven shots behind on the final day to win a major. He also won in a playoff, defeating Tom Watson and Jerry Pate.