Thomas cruises to victory at Bridgestone Invitational
Justin Thomas took all the drama out of the final World Golf Championship at Firestone, never letting anyone closer than two shots and closing with a 1-under 69 to win the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, Ohio, for his third PGA Tour title this season.
Sweeter than capturing his first World Golf Championship was the sight behind the 18th green Sunday.
His grandparents, Paul and Phyllis Thomas, watched him win for the first time on the PGA Tour. Paul Thomas was a career club professional and played at Firestone in the 1960 PGA Championship, missing the 54-hole cut. His son, Mike Thomas, also is a career club pro in Kentucky and a former PGA of America board member.
“I got a little choked up when I saw grandma and grandpa over there,” Thomas said. “It’s really cool. They don’t get to come out very often.”
They saw a one-man show. Playing in the final group with Rory McIlroy, the 25-year-old Thomas made only two birdies. That was all he needed on a day when just about everyone within range was making all the mistakes.
McIlroy finished the back nine with consecutive bogeys and never recovered. Ian Poulter shot 74. Jason Day tried to make a run by making three straight birdies, only to play the final six holes in 5 over to shoot 73.
Tiger Woods, an eighttime winner at Firestone, started 11 shots behind and figured he would go out with a bang by playing aggressively. He turned in a dud, and a birdie on the 18th hole gave him another 73 to leave him 15 shots behind.
“Things could have certainly gone better,” Woods said. “But it is what it is, and on to next week.”
Thomas must feel the same way. He had gone five months since his last victory, a playoff win at the Honda Classic. While he didn’t feel as though he were playing poorly, he didn’t have the
results to back it up. Now he does, and Thomas heads to St. Louis next week for the PGA Championship, where he will try to join Woods as the only players to win back-to-back in stroke play. Woods did it twice.
Thomas had not had a score better than 67, and he had not finished higher than a tie for 28th in his two previous appearances at Firestone.
“I’m glad I finally played well around here, just in time to leave,” he said.
Thomas finished at 15-under 265 for a four-shot victory over Kyle Stanley, who got within two shots of the lead until bogeys on the 13th and 14th holes. Stanley closed with a 68.
Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player who was coming off a victory in the Canadian Open last week, started the final round 10 shots behind and shot 29 on the front nine. A birdie at No. 10 put him three shots behind, but that was all he had. Johnson bogeyed the last hole for a 64.
U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka had a 67 to finish fifth.
LPGA Tour
Georgia Hall of England reeled in long-time leader Pornanong Phatlum in a final-round duel at Royal Lytham to win the Women’s British Open at Lytham St. Annes, England for her first major title.
Roared on by the large galleries in her home country, the 22-year-old Hall only took the lead for the first time after a 20-foot putt for birdie at the 16th hole and stayed steady to post 5-under 67. She won by two shots from Pornanong (70).
PGA Tour Champions
Kenny Perry won the 3M Championship one last time, closing with a 3-under 69 for a three-stroke victory in the PGA Tour Champions event at Blaine, Minn. that is being replaced by the PGA Tour’s 3M Open.
Also the 2014 and 2015 winner at TPC Twin Cities, the 57-year-old Perry
matched Hale Irwin’s tournament record of three victories in the final edition of the event that started in 1993 at Bunker Hills.
Five shots ahead after rounds of 66 and 60, Perry finished at 21-under 195. Perry won his 10th senior title and first since the 2017 U.S. Senior Open. He won the last of his 14 PGA Tour titles in 2008.
European Tour
India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar held out a record-breaking charge from Australian Anthony Quale win the Fiji International at Sigatoka, Fiji by one stroke, while Ernie Els shot a 7-under 65 to finish a further stroke behind.
Bhullar, the overnight leader by a shot, produced his best round of the tournament, a 6-under 66, to move to 14-under over four rounds at the par-72 Natadola Bay course. Quayle went lower, shooting a course record 9-under 63 to all but snatch the trophy and the winner’s share of a $1.2 million purse.