Justin Thomas had six birdies and one bogey in the final round to earn a three-shot win at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
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Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Justin Thomas overcame a four-shot deficit to claim his third victory of the season, shooting a 5-under 65 Sunday to win the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn.
Thomas had six birdies and one bogey in the final round to beat Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Daniel Berger and Tom Lewis by three strokes. The win equaled the largest final-round comeback of Thomas' career and moved him back to No. 1 in the world, a ranking he held for four weeks in 2018.
"It was a hard-fought day, but it meant a lot [because of] how we did it, being four behind to start the day," Thomas said. "I haven't exactly played well coming from behind in the past and I feel like I learned a lot from that.
"Especially at Colonial, I just didn't handle it well and I pressed way too hard and I definitely learned a lot from Workday and Columbus, [Ohio], just how I handled that lead and that situation the last couple holes. I did obviously a very poor job, but because of that I felt a lot more calm and stayed more in the moment today."
Koepka, Mickelson, Berger and Lewis tied for second at 10-under 270. Xander Schauffele, Jason Day and Chez Reavie were among those in a six-way tie for sixth at 9-under par.
Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson and Byeong-Hun An shared 12th at 8-under 272. Rickie Fowler and Brendon Todd, who entered the weekend in the lead, each carded a 7-under 273.
Bryson DeChambeau closed with a 67 and tied for 30th at 4-under. Jordan Spieth also finished at 4-under after finishing with a 71 in the final round, his highest of the tournament.
Rory McIlroy ended at 1-under 279. Jon Rahm, playing in his first event since becoming the top-ranked golfer in the world, was 1-over par.
The PGA Tour's next event is the PGA Championship, which begins Thursday at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Calif.
