Daily Times

CHARLOTTE: Watching his friend Jordan Spieth win major titles was beyond frustrating for Justin Thomas, who captured one of his own Sunday by winning the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. “Frustration probably isn’t the right word. Jealousy definitely is,” Thomas said. “There’s no reason to hide it. I wanted to be doing that and I wasn’t. There’s only four of them in a year, and to be one of them, a major champion, is really cool.” World number two Spieth won last month’s British Open to go with his 2015 Masters and US Open titles, and would have completed a career Grand Slam by taking the Wanamaker Trophy that Thomas hoisted. “Hopefully I’m going to win some more, plenty more, a lot more,” Thomas said. And he never felt overcome by the tension and pressure on a day when he was among five deadlocked for the lead at one stage. Thomas found his resolve after sinking a 14-foot putt to salvage bogey at the first hole. At the par-5 10th, his tee shot bounced off a tree into the fairway. Then an eight-foot birdie putt hung on the edge of the cup nearly 10 seconds before falling in. Thomas seized command with a 40-foot chip-in at the par-3 13th and celebrated in style as the crowd went wild. He sparked another roar with a tee shot to 15 feet over water at the par-3 17th, then holed the putt, the ball dropping in from the left side to all-but seal his triumph. “ Thomas is the third consecutive American in his 20s to win a major after Spieth and US Open champion Brooks Koepka, and the third first-time major winner in a row at the PGA after Australian Jason Day in 2015 and American Jimmy Walker last year.

Published in Daily Times, August 15^th 2017.