Tour News
10 keys from the final round of the SBS Tournament of Champions
Heading into the closing round of the SBS Tournament of Champions, Justin Thomas was leading at 18-under par, two shots better than Hideki Matsuyama. It made sense the two golfers were atop the leaderboard, since they ranked first and second in total strokes gained on the field, respectively, through 54 holes.
In a couple of statistical categories, however, Thomas held a significant edge. For example, while he and Matsuyama were ranked T2 in greens in regulation, having each hit 48 of 54 greens, Thomas was third in driving distance at 310.8 yards; Matsuyama, only 12th at 286.6 yards. Similarly, Thomas ranked fifth in both approach shot proximity to the hole (32 feet 6 inches) and distance of putts made (242 feet 10 inches); Matsuyama, 15th in the former (36 feet 4 inches), and 19th in the latter (191 feet 9 inches).
Were Thomas to maintain those advantages, while going head-to-head with Matsuyama in Sunday’s final group, the SBS Champions might be his to win. And remember, though Matsuyama has won four of his last five worldwide starts, it was Thomas who won the one that got away.
So to Sunday’s 18 holes they went.
1) A half-hour TV drama
In the end, there turned out to be about one half-an-hour of real drama. It unfolded in four acts:
- First, Matsuyama holed out from 60 feet for an eagle at hole No. 14.
- Next, Thomas double-bogeyed at No. 15, and what had grown to a five-stroke lead for Thomas was suddenly down to one with three holes to play.
- Then on No. 16 Thomas missed birdie from 12 feet, but Matsuyama left his chance to tie agonizingly inches short.
- And finally on No. 17 the curtain came down: from an awkward lie on a downslope, 214 yards out, Thomas conjured up the shot of the week, sticking it to about three feet with a “walk-through” swing that led Mark Immelman, on PGA Tour Radio, to reference Gary Player. After Thomas’ tap-in birdie, Matsuyama’s second three-putt bogey, including his first miss all week from within five feet, ended the drama and sealed the deal.
Related: Justin Thomas Winning WITB
2) Thomas left in admiration
Thomas cut that Gary Player-esque “walk-through” short: the better to admire what he’d wrought. Afterward he told the press that he’d said to his caddie, as the shot headed green-ward, “This is pretty good. Let’s watch this.”
3) Just not Matsuyama’s day
At the start of day four, the tournament had looked as if it might actually be over very early, mainly because Matsuyama failed to apply any significant pressure. After 141 holes without a three-putt, he succumbed at the first and bogeyed; Thomas parred.
Then Matsuyama went par, birdie, bogey, birdie, while Thomas bettered his playing partner by one, going par, birdie, par, birdie. And when Thomas missed his birdie chance at the sixth, Matsuyama’s birdie miss from eight feet seemed a sure sign of its not being his day.
4) McGirt’s rollercoaster ride
Until Thomas’ mishap at No. 15, only William McGirt’s play had raised a serious possibility that the leader might be catchable.
McGirt had gone bogey-free on the final five holes Thursday, all 36 holes Friday and Saturday, and through the first nine on Sunday. The streak had brought him to within three at the turn. But then, a rollercoaster ride: double, birdie, double, par, bogey, birdie, bogey, par, par, to finish with a 4-over 41 on the back, leaving him T9 at 14-under. For the record, McGirt’s wild ride started at No. 10 with the week’s only four-putt.
5) Thomas teaches how to win
Never let em see you sweat.
Justin Thomas battled back to win the @PGATOUR_TOC pic.twitter.com/NGuXVJYAEN
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 9, 2017
Thomas’s victory offered a couple of lessons in how winners win.
For one thing, they keep things in perspective. He told the press post-round that literally his first thought upon awaking on Sunday morning was that the Alabama game was only one more day away.
For another, winners get some lucky breaks. On the ninth, Thomas appeared to have lost his ball off the tee in deep “native area” vegetation, but thanks to a diligent tournament worker Thomas found his errant shot. He then punched out into fairway and eventually managed to salvage par. Who knows what would have happened otherwise.
Thomas also showed how winners are able to put a positive spin on a situation even when it takes a negative turn. Imagine how it might have felt, as Thomas watched Matsuyama with a putt to tie at No. 16, to have had a five-stroke lead disappear in three quick holes. But even if Matsuyama had sunk the putt, Thomas’s view, as he explained in his post-victory press conference, was that he would have taken being even with Hideki in a two-man race with two holes to play at the beginning of the week. The loss of the big lead, in other words, didn’t cause Thomas to panic or get overwhelmed with regret, nor did it get in the way of his making the shot on No. 17 that insured his win.
6) Day’s back
Returning from a three-month layoff, Jason Day finished T12 at 13-under and felt good about “how the back performed,” as he told the press post-round. “To be able to walk around this golf course and play and hit off the awkward lies that we get, it didn’t have an effect on me, which is great.”
7) 400+ on hole No. 7
Long drive of the week: Justin Thomas’s 409-yard Sunday drive at the seventh bested Jimmy Walker’s 408-yarder — with his now-celebrated 42-inch driver — also on No. 7 in round one.
8) Winds up, scores up
There’d only been 11 par-or-over the first three days. On Sunday, there were 10. A change in conditions and a shift in the wind was enough to toughen things up and keep the scoring in check. Only Jordan Spieth and Pat Perez kept their Sunday bogey-free.
9) Spieth goes low
Spieth, the defending champion, matched the best round of the week with an 8-under 65. He was never genuinely in the hunt to catch his close friend Thomas, but he did get to 16-under and solo third. He ranked first in birdies for the week, and first in putts per G.I.R. (1.683).
10) Winning: By the numbers
Some final Thomas stats: He hit 44 of 60 fairways (T17), averaged 301 yards off the tee (T7) and hit 63 of 72 greens in regulation. He ranked third in strokes gained/off the tee (+4.896), fourth in strokes gained/putting (+3.236) and seventh in strokes gained/ approaching the green (+2.392).
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.
GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Ben Taylor – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Paul Barjon – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Joe Sullivan – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Wilson Furr – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Willman – SoTex PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Jimmy Stanger – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Rickie Fowler – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Harrison Endycott – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Vince Whaley – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Kevin Chappell – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Christian Bezuidenhout – WITB (mini) – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Scott Gutschewski – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
Pullout Albums
- Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Taylor with new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Swag cover – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Greyson Sigg’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Davis Riley’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Josh Teater’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hzrdus T1100 is back – – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Mark Hubbard testing ported Titleist irons – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Tyson Alexander testing new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hideki Matsuyama’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Cobra putters – 2024 Valero Texas Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
GolfWRX is on site in the Lone Star State this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
General galleries from the putting green and range, WITBs — including Thorbjorn Olesen and Zac Blair — and several pull-out albums await.
As always, we’ll continue to update as more photos flow in. Check out links to all our photos from Houston below.
General Albums
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Thorbjorn Olesen – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ben Silverman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jesse Droemer – SoTX PGA Section POY – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- David Lipsky – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Martin Trainer – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Zac Blair – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jacob Bridgeman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Trace Crowe – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Daniel Berger – WITB(very mini) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Chesson Hadley – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Callum McNeill – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Rhein Gibson – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Patrick Fishburn – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Peter Malnati – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Raul Pereda – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Gary Woodland WITB (New driver, iron shafts) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Padraig Harrington WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
Pullout Albums
- Tom Hoge’s custom Cameron – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Piretti putters – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ping putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Kevin Dougherty’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Bettinardi putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Erik Barnes testing an all-black Axis1 putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Tony Finau’s new driver shaft – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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