Thomas captures finale at Firestone

Nervous at the start, Justin Thomas was in full control at the Bridgestone Invitational to the end. He had a fourshot lead and faced a 15foot birdie putt on the final hole that would only determine his margin of victory.

And then he nearly lost it.

He marked his ball, turned toward the back of the green and saw his grandparents, Paul and Phyllis Thomas, who had never seen him win since his joined the PGA Tour.

Paul Thomas is a career club pro who played himself at Firestone in the 1960 PGA Championship. His grandmother is one of his biggest supporters who navigated her way around the hills of Firestone using a walker in 90-degree heat.

Thomas bowed his head to collect his emotions, which were stronger than when he won the PGA Championship last summer.

“I just got a huge knot in my throat and I just had to put my head down,” he said after closing with a 1-under 69 for his first World Golf Championship title.

“I’ve never gotten like that on the golf course before. You just don’t know if they’re ever going to see me win if I don’t win here. So it was pretty cool to get it done.”

They saw a one-man show Aug. 5 that sent Thomas to Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis with high hopes of joining Tiger Woods as the only back-toback winners of the PGA Championship in stroke play.

Playing in the final group with Rory McIlroy, the 25-year-old Thomas never let anyone closer than two shots of the lead. He made only two birdies and left the mistakes to everyone with range of him. McIlroy finished the front nine with consecutive bogeys and never recovered. Ian Poulter started three shots behind and shot 74. Jason Day made a run with three straight birdies to start the back nine, only to play the final six holes in 5-over par for a 73.

Tiger Woods was never in the picture.

In the final World Golf Championship at Firestone, on the South course where Woods set a PGA Tour record with eight victories, he tried to end with a bang and turned in a dud. Woods made two double bogeys and three bogeys on the back nine and salvaged a 73 to finish 15 shots behind.

“Things could have certainly gone better,” Woods said. “But it is what it is, and on to next week.”

Thomas could not have asked for a better week. Winless the last five months without feeling as though his game were in disarray, he got the result he needed ahead of the final major of the year. He joined Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson as three-time winners this season.

He lost in a playoff at the Mexico Championship. He lost in the semifinals of the Match Play.

At the Bridgestone Invitational, he became the 21st player to win a World Golf Championship and a major.

“It was kind of one of the few things left that I felt I needed to knock off or felt that would have been nice to add to the resume, for sure,” Thomas said.