Justin Thomas (29, USA, photo) overcame a 7 stroke lead and climbed to the top of the PGA Championship, the second major event of the PGA Tour season in five years.
In the final fourth round of the tournament held at Southern Hills Country Club (par 70) in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA on the 23rd, Thomas reduced three strokes to five birdies and two bogeys to record a final total of five under par 275. Thomas won the overtime match once morest Will Zalatoris (26, USA) and took the prize money of 2.7 million dollars (regarding 3.42 billion won). Thomas won two major championships in his career, the PGA Championship. It is the 15th top in his career on the PGA Tour. Thomas jumped from No. 9 to No. 5 in the world rankings.
It was a miraculous victory. Thomas hit a four-over par in the third round and tied for seventh by seven strokes with leader Mito Ferreira (27, Chile) with a mid-total two-under-par 208. Even in the fourth round, he might not reduce the number of strokes with two birdies and two bogeys in the first nine holes. The band electrode started from the 11th hole (par 3) in the second half where he succeeded in putting a birdie at a distance of regarding 20m. On the 12th hole (par 4), he also got a 5.4m birdie and narrowed it down to two shots in an instant with Ferreira, who lost three shots to this hole. On the 17th hole (par 4), he added a birdie, chasing Ferreira by one stroke. Thomas missed a 4m birdie putt on the 18th hole (par 4) and was unable to level with Ferreira. However, Ferreira collapsed while doing a double bogey, such as drowning a tee shot on the 18th hole and receiving a penalty stroke.
Thomas took consecutive birdies on the 13th (par 5) and 17th holes in a three-hole (13th, 17th, and 18th) total sudden death in overtime, and took a lead over the Chloratoris, who cut one stroke on the 17th. On the 18th hole, Xalatoris missed a birdie and Thomas pared to end the game. Thomas’s seven-stroke comeback win is a tie for third in history in the final round of a major event. In the 1956 Masters, Jack Burke Jr. overturned the lead by eight and Paul Laurie overturned the lead by ten at The Open in 1999.
“It’s a strange day,” Thomas said. “I hope it will be the first and last experience to win even if you shank on a Sunday (the ball hits the shaft joint, etc., not the face at impact) and flies in the wrong direction.” He played a bit ups and downs on the 6th hole (par 3), such as bogeying a shank.
Pereira, who was the first South American player to win the PGA Championship and challenged her first tour victory, finished the tournament tied for third with a final total of 4 under par 276. Among domestic players, Lee Kyung-hoon (31) tied for 41st with a 5-over par 285.
Correspondent Hong-gu Kang windup@donga.com
