– Justin Thomas found the right time for a near-perfect performance to put a rough start to the year behind him, rallying from three shots behind with bold play to close with a 4-under 68 and win the Players Championship on Sunday.
He won for the seventh straight year, his 14th career title, and became only the fourth player to win a major, the Players Championship, the FedEx Cup and a World Golf Championship.
Thomas called it as good as he has ever played tee-to-green, and he needed it to outlast Lee Westwood, a hard-luck runner-up for the second straight week. Westwood birdied the final hole for a 72 to finish one shot behind at TPC Sawgrass.
An otherwise impeccable start to Thomas’ career on and off the course came under scrutiny in January when he muttered an anti-gay slur under his breath that cost him one sponsor and led another to publicly reprimand him. Tougher still was the death last month of his grandfather, Paul, part of the legacy of golf pros in the Thomas family.
Westwood, a runner-up last week to Bryson DeChambeau at Bay Hill, was tied for the lead Sunday until he couldn’t match Thomas, playing in the group ahead, on the par-5 16th.
Thomas teed it low and slung a hard, low draw that ran out some 40 yards and set up a 5-wood into 50 feet, which he lagged down for a two-putt birdie. Westwood’s 3-iron clipped a tree and dropped into the sand, and that quirky 65-yard shot went into another bunker and forced him to scramble for par.
“When you’re in contention, you’d like to win every tournament you’re playing in,” Westwood said after a 72. “But I didn’t quite have my game today.”
He made birdie on the 18th to finish alone in second. DeChambeau (71) and Brian Harman (69) were another shot behind.
Thomas finished at 14-under 274. He was outside the cut line after nine holes Friday, made it with two shots to spare and then tied the Players Championship record with a 12-under 132 weekend.