adminCHARLOTTE. – Two spectacular birdies in the last six holes brought Justin Thomas his first major golf title, the 14th-ranked American taking the PGA Championship on Sunday in a back-nine shootout thriller.
On a day that saw five players share the lead at one stage, Thomas fired a three-under par 68 to finish 72 holes on eight-under par 276 for a two-stroke victory over South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, Italy’s Francesco Molinari and American Patrick Reed.
“I knew know matter what my game was at I had to be patient,” Thomas said. “I knew I had the game to get it done. I just had to put it out there.”
Thomas rolled in an amazing 40-foot chip shot at the par-3 13th for a two-stroke lead and curled a 14-foot putt into the left side of the cup to birdie the par-3 17th for a three-shot edge, making a closing bogey all-but irrelevant.
“To make a birdie there was beyond a bonus,” Thomas said of 17. “And 13 was really special as well.”
Thomas, 24, claimed the Wanamaker Trophy and grabs the top prize of $1.89 million for his fourth victory of the season after last year’s CIMB Classic in Malaysia and two January events in Hawaii, the Tournament of Champions and Sony Open. – AFP.
Online Reporter