On the 72nd hole of the PGA Championship Sunday at Quail Hallow Club, Jordan Spieth was there with a big smile, just as a great many thought he could be, given how wonderfully he played on the back nine of The Open Championship and how it just seemed like it was just his time to complete the career Grand Slam.
Except he was wearing jeans and a backwards hat, there to give his friend Justin Thomas a congratulatory hug.
For as long as Thomas has being going through the motions on the PGA Tour he has always been dubbed as Spieth’s “good buddy,” but Sunday, the tables were turned.
Thomas captured the PGA Championship, his first major, thanks to a spectacular 11-hole stretch at Quail Hallow where he went 5-under par. He bogeyed the 72nd hole of the tournament to fall back to 8-under for the week, but it was no matter, despite Sunday’s wild ride.
“It was a crazy day,” admitted Thomas. “I forget what hole it was, I think walking up to the 12th green, there was maybe five of us at 7-under. I had no idea it was that close. … To see that was kind of crazy.”
Thomas, 24, emerged victorious at the end of it all, and this was his “hello world” moment.
Yes, he had won four times on the PGA Tour already – three times this season alone, including the Sony Open in Hawaii where he shot 59 in the first round – but none of his wins up until this point had come on the continental United States.
And although he’s a prominent member of the Spring Break Crew (Thomas, Spieth, Rickie Fowler, and Smylie Kaufman have retreated to Baker’s Bay in the Bahamas for the weekend after the Masters the last two years and have documented their tequila-filled antics on Snapchat and Instagram), arguably making Thomas more of a household name, on the golf course he remained Robin to Spieth’s Batman.
No longer.
Sure, they became the first back-to-back winners of major championships 24 or under since Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen pulled the feat in 1923, but despite the fact Spieth found major success three times over before he did, Thomas never resented his friend.
“Frustration probably isn’t the right word. Jealousy definitely is,” said Thomas. “There’s only four [majors] in a year, and to be one of them, a major champion, is really cool. It’s just nice to have one.”
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As of now, Thomas is also the odds-on favourite to win Player of the Year honours on the PGA Tour (with his four wins, including a major) and although he’s not quite six-feet tall, and weighs approximately 150 pounds soaking wet, Thomas is a force to be reckoned with.
He started Sunday two shots back of overnight leader Kevin Kisner and had a rough start. He was, at one point, four shots off playing-partner Hideki Matsuyama’s lead on the front nine.
But then Thomas went on a bit of a run that could only be described as Spieth-like.
Thomas made two birdies before making the turn, and then dropped in another birdie on No.10 that shook the grounds of Quail Hallow, with the ball hanging on the lip for nearly 12 seconds, inspiring thoughts of Tiger Woods’ iconic chip-in at the Masters in 2005.
For so long, the face of American golf – golf in general, really – was that of Woods. Wins piled up, he hit the ball longer than anyone on the planet, and he had a flare for the dramatic.
But he was always closed off.
Now, the faces – plural – of American golf are those of a bunch of 20-somethings who don’t mind showing how many beers fit into golf’s most iconic trophies (43 in the Wanamaker, for those keeping track) like Thomas, Spieth, and Fowler.
Two of those three waited around to see Thomas finish Sunday.
“I think that kind of shows, you know, where the game is right now, where all of us are,” said Thomas. “We obviously all want to win. We want to beat the other person. But if we can’t win, we at least want to enjoy it with our friends. I think that we’ll all be able to enjoy this together, and I know it’s going to make them more hungry, just like it did me.”
It’s getting crowded at the top of golf’s mountain, and Thomas, all five feet, 10 inches of him, is currently at the peak.
“I know you can’t get to two [majors] unless you get one. So I’m excited to have this, and it’s incredible,” said Thomas. “It was an awesome day. It was a great experience. It’s huge for me.”