Justin Thomas claims 5th win of season with Dell Technologies win
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Justin Thomas triumphed in the second stage of the FedEx Cup playoffs, winning the Dell Technologies Championship by three shots .
The 24-year-old outlasted Jordan Spieth and Marc Leishman in a dramatic Monday-night battle to win his fifth victory of the 2016/17 season, just a few weeks after his first major title at the PGA Championship.
Thomas posted an eight-under 63 on Sunday to hold a share of the over-night lead with Leishman, and the most recent major champion found himself in a three-way battle with Jordan Spieth and Leishman throughout the majority of the day.
It had been Spieth who put the pressure on early with a birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie start to tie the lead with Leishman, but Thomas answered with birdie and an eagle of his own on the fourth.
A further gain came on the 7th, but it seemed that Thomas’ playing partner Leishman would be the one to catch after both he posted a six-under-par front nine of 30 to get to 18-under. Yet as the winds got up, the back-nine became a completely different story.
Leishman bogeyed the 10th,11th and 12th holes to fall back in to a share of the lead at 15-under, and as Spieth dropped shots on 12 and 14 – suddenly timely birdies on the 13th and 15th holes gave Thomas a two-shot advantage with three holes to go.
Spieth very narrowly missed birdie putts on both 16 and 17 left him needing an eagle to tie Thomas at the top, but a messy bogey on the final hole would not be enough to force a play-off with his good friend.
It was an anti-climatic finish for the Open Champion, who finished second last week at The Northern Trust and had to settle for another second-place close run.
Meanwhile, Thomas needed good up and downs on both the 16th and 17th holes to retain his two-shot advantage standing on the par-five 18th tee, and found himself in a winning position for the second time in his past three event.
A great drive from the PGA Champion found the middle of the fairway, and although Thomas slightly pulled his approach shot left of the green on the final hole, but a tap-in par was more than enough to complete a final-round 66 for victory.
“I’m excited. It was just a really patient, hard fought week,” Thomas said. “I’m in a lot better shape now for the FedEx Cup but I’m excited to have a week off and get some rest.”
Playing partner Leishman dropped shots on each the final two holes to leaving him in solo third at 13-under-par, with Paul Casey and Jon Rahm sharing 4th place at 12-under.
Justin Thomas: WITB
Driver: Titleist 917D2 (Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana BF 60TX shaft), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Titleist 917F2 (Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei CK Blue 80TX shaft), 15 degrees
5-wood: Titleist 915Fd (Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 Tour Spec X shaft), 18 degrees
Irons: Titleist 716 CB (4-iron; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft), Titleist 718 MB (5-9; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts), Titleist Vokey SM6 (46-10F degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft)
Wedges: Vokey SM5 (52-12F and 56-14F degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts), Vokey SM6 (60 degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft)
Putter: Scotty Cameron X5 Flow Neck Prototype (SuperStroke Pistol GT Tour grip)
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
FedEx Cup Standings (projected)
Despite finishing second, Jordan Spieth moves in to the top spot of the FedEx Cup rankings with 5071 points, while Thomas moves in to second place with 5044 points, and World No.1 Dustin Johnson drops back in to third spot at 4650.
Jordan Spieth: 5071
Justin Thomas: 5044
Dustin Johnson: 4650
Hideki Matsuyama: 3021
Jon Rahm: 2894
Rickie Fowler: 2217
Marc Leishman: 2084
Paul Casey: 2065
Brooks Koepka: 1952
Pat Perez: 1984
