Justin Thomas wins in playoff after nearly giving tournament away on 72nd hole

By

Up until the 72nd hole, Justin Thomas was playing what he would later call “one of the best rounds of my life.” Then things got a bit messy.

Thomas, who led Xander Schauffele by one stroke with one hole left in regulation, badly hooked his tee shot but still found the generous fairway at the par-5 18th. His second shot into the green was pulled down the left side again, and this time he wasn’t so lucky, finding the hazard short and left of the green. He went on to make bogey, opening the door for Schauffele to win with a birdie. After finding the green in two, Schauffele had two putts to defend his Sentry Tournament of Champions title.

But a three-putt from Schauffele sent the tournament into a three-man playoff that included Patrick Reed, who had posted a seven-under 66 moments earlier to reach 14-under for the week. That number was enough to reach sudden death, where all three players returned to the 18th tee. They all appeared to have birdie locked up after their approach shots, but only Reed and Thomas moved on, as Schauffele left his eagle putt woefully short and three-putted once again and was eliminated.

Reed and Thomas matched with pars on the second playoff hole, setting up what could have been the final hole of the day as darkness set in in Maui. Thomas appeared to nearly give away the tournament again, chunking his fairway wood approach shot while Reed’s second shot was just short of the green. But Thomas recovered, hitting his third to a few feet and forcing Reed to have to birdie the hole. His eagle chip left him with a good look, but Reed missed, and Thomas tapped in for his second victory in his last three PGA Tour starts.

“For some reason I was supposed to win this week,” said Thomas, who is now a two-time winner at the Sentry. “I was very lucky to even have that putt, very fortunate, but I also stuck to my process and tried to stay positive. Just tried to tell myself there’s a reason I’m still here, and we’ve still got a chance to win, and we were fortunate enough to do that.”

The victory is Thomas’ 12th on the PGA Tour, giving him the most of any active player under the age of 30.

“A decent amount of them I got fortunate like I did today, that’s what happens when you win, stuff goes your way. Obviously you have to play well and make some putts and hit some shots, but at the end of the day you need stuff to go your way, and it definitely did today.”