Thomas outduels Spieth to win fifth title of '17

Justin Thomas won for the fifth time this season, adding a playoff title to his ever-impressive 2017 resume. Thomas captured the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston on Labor Day Monday and here’s how he did it:

Leaderboard: Thomas (-17), Jordan Spieth (-14), Marc Leishman (-13), Jon Rahm (-12), Paul Casey (-12), Phil Mickelson (-11), three others tied at 11 under. 

What it means: Thomas isn’t officially a lock for Player of the Year, but Spieth may need to sweep the final two playoff events – and with them the overall FedExCup title – to deny him the Jack Nicklaus Trophy. Thomas now has a major championship, a playoff win, three other Tour victories, a 59, and a 63 in a major. 

Round of the day: Thomas’ 5-under 66. Spieth played his first four holes on Monday in 5 under, but Thomas never wavered. While Spieth turned in 6-under 30, Thomas did so in 32, including an eagle-2 at the par-4 fourth. Both men trailed Leishman, but, as noted below, he would falter on the back nine. Spieth grabbed sole possession of the lead with a birdie at 13, but was quickly matched by Thomas on the same hole. Spieth would then bogey 14, while Thomas would birdie 15. Thomas had only two bogeys all week. 

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Best of the rest: Bill Haas and Rafa Cabrera Bello both shot the lowest score of the day, 6-under 65. But neither man was in contention, with Haas tying for 10^th and Cabrera Bello tying for 18^th. There were nine 66’s on Monday. 

Biggest disappointment: Goes to a trio of players. While he finished in solo third place, Leishman was the outright leader by two, thanks to a front-nine 30, but played the back nine in 5-over 40. Paul Casey was one back to start the day and could only manage a 70 to remain winless on Tour since 2009. And Grayson Murray, bidding for Rookie of the Year honors, was two off the 54-hole pace and closed in 6-over 77 to tie for 25^th. 

Shot of the day: Thomas’ 138-yard approach shot to 4 feet at the par-4 15th, to go up 2 strokes, was nice. 

JT will have this to increase his lead …#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/De56JjHVNo

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 4, 2017

But his par save at the 16^th was huge. Faced with a difficult up and down from the right side of the green, Thomas pitched to 6 feet and made the putt. That allowed Thomas to keep his cushion and momentum down the stretch.

Quote of the day:  “We’ve had a great year, and there are two more events to try to finish this off.” – Thomas

Source: Internet