By Rahul Banerji
It was a Sunday of chaos, pressure and nerves in Tulsa, and it needed a Justin Thomas special to bring home his second PGA Championship victory.
The 29-year-old from Kentucky’s Louisville – home of another famed battler – started the day seven shots off the lead and ended it with hands wrapped around the Wanamaker Trophy.
It took three playoff holes over fellow-American Will Zalatoris before Thomas could walk up to receive the trophy at Southern Hills.
In doing so, he emulated John Mahaffey, who beat Tom Watson and Jerry Pate in a playoff at the 1978 PGA Championship in Oakmont.
Thomas was one over after six holes but four birdies in his final 10 holes helped him climb the leaderboard to 5-under 275 and into a share of the lead.
Zalatoris also hung on with a 1-over 71 on the day to finish on 275 after overnight leader Mito Pereira saw his chances vanish into water.
Critical error
The Chilean came up inches short with his putt on 17 that would have given him a two-shot buffer over the pack. He then sliced his drive in 18 into a stream alongside the fairway.
The resultant double bogey dropped him into shared third place alongside Cameron Young on 4-under 276.
“It was a bizarre day,” Thomas would say later after pocketing his 15th PGA Tour title.
“It’s funny, I was asked earlier in the week about what lead is safe, and I said, ‘no lead’. This place is so tough.
“But if you hit the fairways you can make birdies and I stayed so patient, I just couldn’t believe I found myself in a play-off.”
In the shootout, it was the world number nine who prevailed with birdie on 17, the second playoff hole. It gave Thomas his second PGA Championship title after 2017.
Handling nerves
“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. You just don’t know what’s going to happen,” Thomas added.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (73) also part of the group that was on and around the top of the leaderboard, and countryman Tommy Fleetwood were tied fifth on 3-under 277 with Chris Kirk of the US.
With none of the six ahead of him having won a major title, Thomas kept his head down and worked his way upwards despite an indifferent front nine.
But keeping mistakes down to a minimum, and those four birdies on his inbound nine, lifted Thomas into a position where he could snap a title drought that extended back to the Players in 2021.
The final result gave Thomas a 4-2 playoff record and left Zalatoris at none from two.
“I’ve been knocking on the door in these majors for a little while and one’s going to come soon,” the undaunted Zalatoris said.
“To come up one short, it stings, but I know we’re going to get one soon.”
Thomas, the son and grandson of PGA professionals, became the 22nd multiple winner of the event.
It was the largest final-round comeback on the Tour since Justin Rose came from eight back at the 2017 WGC-HSBC Champions.
Thomas also became the sixth player since 1945 with 15 Tour wins before the age of 30, joining Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
For Zalatoris, it was afifth top-10 finish in his last seven major championship starts while Pereira narrowly failed to become the first from Chile to win a major.
Final round leaderboard
Justin Thomas 67-67-74-67, 275 (-5)
Will Zalatoris 66-65-73-71, 275 (-5)
Cameron Young 71-67-67-71, 276 (-4)
Mito Pereira 68-64-69-75, 276 (-4)
(Thomas (2-under) bt Zalatoris (1-under) in a 3-hole aggregate playoff)
Also read: Lee shoots career best major round as Lahiri struggles in the sand
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