Justin Thomas again showed that he is one of the best front-runners on the PGA Tour.
The 25-year-old Thomas took a three-stroke lead into the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and closed with a 1-under-par 69 to win by four shots over Kyle Stanley on the South Course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.
“I’m glad I was finally able to play well around this place,” said Thomas, who claimed his ninth PGA Tour victory, including six of eight when he led after round three. “It was big because I was really nervous today.
“It felt like it had been a while (since he won the Honda Classic in February), but I guess it hadn’t really been that long. I don’t know. I was very nervous, very jittery. To make that (six-foot par) putt on 1 and again (from 14 feet for birdie) on 2 just kind of calmed me and got me going for the day.”
Thomas, who became the fifth and youngest player to win a FedEx Cup title, a major championship and a World Golf Championship, didn’t light it up in the final round but he didn’t have to. He had two birdies and one bogey while finishing at 15-under 265.
This week, he will defend his title in the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. His third victory of the 2017-18 wraparound season moved him back to No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings.
Stanley had three birdies on the back nine to shoot 68 and finish second, while top-ranked Dustin Johnson collected six birdies on the front nine en route to a 64 and was five back in a tie for third with Thorbjorn Oleson of Norway, who made four birdies coming home in another 64.
Fourth-ranked Brooks Koepka was another stroke back in fifth after a 67, while seventh-ranked Rory McIlroy, the 2014 Bridgestone champion, struggled to a 73 and wound up seven down in a tie for sixth with Aaron Wise (67) of Lake Elsinore, Patrick Cantlay (68) of Los Alamitos and UCLA, and Anirban Lahiri (68) of India (68).
Tenth-ranked Jason Day of Australia was in the hunt until playing the last five holes in 5-under and wound up at 73 to finish eight back in a tie for 10th with Tony Finau (68), Ian Poulter (74) of England, and Si Woo Kim (69) of South Korea.
Ninth-ranked Rickie Fowler of Murrieta and fifth-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain both totaled 73 and finished in a tie for 17th, while Phil Mickelson, who won the 1996 World Series of Golf at Firestone, shot 70 to tie for 24th.
Eight-time Bridgestone winner Tiger Woods had six birdies and two double-bogeys in a 73 to tie for 31st, sixth-ranked Francesco Molinari of Italy totaled 69 and wound up in a tie for 39th that included defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, who finished at 72, while eighth-ranked Jordan Spieth tied for 60th following a 74.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2018/wgc-bridgestone-invitational/leaderboard.html
