TULSA, Okla. ( Associated Press) — Justin Thomas didn’t notice any scores other than his Sunday at the PGA Championship, knowing he was seven shots behind but only six players ahead of him on the Southern Hills course, where nothing could have been done. ,
He would never have dreamed how it all happened, a chaotic final hour of moments of pressure, clutch putts and unimaginable heartache for Mito Pereira.
Thomas hit a leg on the sixth hole. He made a 65-foot birdie putt that began his record-tying comeback. He missed a 10-foot birdie put on the final hole, which he feared would cost him. He did not lead until his three-hole aggregate with Will Zalatoris had a hole in the playoffs.
And when Thomas tapped the draw to capture another PGA Championship title, he stood on the 18th green with a mixture of delight and disbelief.
“I was asked at the beginning of the week which lead is safe and I said, ‘No lead,'” Thomas said. “I can’t believe I found myself in the playoffs.”
Thomas finished with a 3-under 67 that turned out to be enough for a playoff when the 27-year-old Pereira of Chile, in his first PGA Championship, who was never behind all day, went into a creek and made a double bogey on Day 18 . Hole to finish a shot behind.
It was the first time since Phil Mickelson on the winged foot at the 2006 US Open that a player had lost a major by giving a shot lead on the final hole.
“It hurt to hit it in the water,” Pereira said. “I mean, I wish I could do it again.”
Like his first PGA title at Quail Hollow in 2017, the signature shot for Thomas came on the 17th hole. It was the second hole of the overall playoffs. He drilled a 301-yard par 4 to 35 feet for a two-strip birdie, his first lead of the day.
Zalatoris, whose 8-footer for birdie and regulation should have been on par on the final two holes, propelled him into the playoffs with a 71 he could not deliver in overtime. He missed an 8-foot birdie putt in 17th place in the playoffs, and could not catch Thomas in the end.
Zalatoris looked like he had thrown off his chances for the first Major – and first PGA Tour win – when he three-putted on the 16th hole from just 20 feet outside. But he responded with a birdie from the 17th bunker and an 8-foot par for 71 on the 18th.
He joined Thomas at 5-under 275, and played when Pereira faltered.
Thomas, who left last year 14 months after his previous win at The Players Championship, has now won his last eight years on the PGA Tour and moved up to No. 5 in the world.
His second major came when he least expected it.
None of the six players ahead of him had ever won a Major. Thomas knew this. He was in the longest drought since his first PGA Tour title. He was also aware of this.
“I remember how hard it is to win now, so I knew I was going to panic and I knew they must be feeling the same way,” Thomas said. “You don’t know what’s going to happen.”
At the 1978 PGA Championship in Oakmont, John Mahaffey was the second player to come from seven shots behind on the final day. He also won the playoffs over Tom Watson and Jerry Pate.
Thomas was still seven shots behind when he made his remarkable run, a mix of major birdies and keeping mistakes off his card. It started with an impossible birdie put on par-3 11th to the small back pin on the green. He edged on the next hole with an 18-foot birdie.
He was lurking while the lead pack behind him was leaking oil.
Zalatoris and Cameron Young caught Pereira occasionally. They all got rough and sand and greens in trouble.
Pereira was on the verge of becoming Chile’s first major champion and giving South America a career Grand Slam.
Even after five bogeys, he never lost the lead and saved the clutch cross from the bunker on the ninth green and behind the well on the tenth green. There was no one bigger than his 12-foot putt in the 16th to be a shot ahead.
It all came undone with one swing.
His saw-off swing with the driver, so dominant on the last hole, splayed to the right and slid down the right side of the 18th fairway into the gutter. After the penalty drop, his approach up the hill began on the left and descends into the rough, never cutting back. His chip rolled off the back edge of the green.
His double bogey gave him 75 runs, a tough end to such a promising week.
“On Monday, I just wanted to make the cut. On Sunday, I wanted to win,” Pereira said. “I’ll take it to learn for the future.”
Young, whose father is a longtime PGA professional, will also look to missed opportunities. Playing with Zalatoris, a former roommate from Wake Forest, Young was in the mix all day and was briefly tied for the lead. His hopes were dashed on the 16th when he found a bunker in the green that was weakly ripped to 30 feet and took a three-putt for a double bogey. He closed with 71.
Rory McIlroy scored a brief run on the front nine with four straight birdies, placing him at 4-under for the tournament. He was second the rest of the way and finished eighth.
In the Southern Hills’ eight Majors, it was the first time a player had won by any margin, and only the second playoff. At the 2001 US Open, Retiff Goosen won second after making a three-putt from 12 feet on the final hole. At least he got another chance, unlike Pereira.
Six of the past seven major champions in the Southern Hills are in the World Golf Hall of Fame. The 29-year-old Thomas, who now heads two of his 15 career PGA Tour victories, is definitely going to be there one day.
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