By Brian Wacker
Good closers are hard to come by (go ask the Yankees).

In golf, getting it done on Sunday is even more difficult. No one has done it better than Tiger Woods (duh). When leading or tied for the lead after 54 holes, he has a remarkable 55-4 record. When leading by himself, golf’s ultimate frontrunner is 43-2, the latest of those conversions coming at the 2018 Tour Championship, where he had a three-stroke cushion going into Sunday and cruised to his first victory in five years.

Leading by three helps of course. Justin Thomas had no such advantage at the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges in South Korea after making a mess of the par-5 18th hole at Nine Bridges Golf Club on Saturday. He entered the final round tied with Danny Lee but shot a five-under 67 to win by two.

The victory was the 11th of the 26-year-old’s career on the PGA Tour and it put him in rare company. Only Tiger and Jack Nicklaus have compiled more Ws by age 27, with 34 (!) and 20, respectively. Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth are next, also with 11.

That’s the list.

Not lost in Thomas’ latest triumph: He’s now eight for 11 when leading or tied for the lead after 54 holes, which brings to mind a question:

Is Thomas the best closer in golf?

When comparing him to his contemporaries, at least, there’s a strong case to be made.

Let’s start with 30-year-old McIlroy and 26-year-old Spieth. They are seven for 12 and nine for 16, respectively, when it comes to cashing in final-round leads on tour.

The last time McIlroy led going into Sunday was at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude, where he had a one-shot edge over Brooks Koepka and got dusted, shooting a 71 to Koepka’s 65. A month later, McIlroy got the revenge he was seeking, erasing a one-shot deficit to Koepka to win the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. Still, he has at times struggled to close (see, 2018).

Spieth, who hasn’t won an official tournament since the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale, has endured missed opportunities, too. In an odd pattern, he failed to convert the first four times in his career that he led or shared the lead, before cashing in nine straight leads/co-leads, and then failing to do so the last three occasions. The most infamous of those came at the 2016 Masters, where he led by a shot going into the last round and led by five with nine holes to play before imploding with a bogey-bogey-quad run on 10, 11 and 12.

Jason Day, who won The Challenge: Japan Skins, an unofficial event, on Monday, followed a similar trend as Spieth early on. He converted just one of his first six leads/co-leads into victory. Since then, however, the 31-year-old 12-time tour winner is six for seven.

Koepka, who has seven career victories on tour, has also proven adept at closing. The 29-year-old four-time major champion is four for six overall, having gotten the job done each of the last four times he has been atop the leader board. The most recent of those came at the PGA Championship in May.

Koepka’s fellow bash bro Dustin Johnson? The 35-year-old with is eight for 17. He also has three additional wins in events that were shortened to 54 holes, having won two of those when leading after 36 holes.

Then there’s Rickie Fowler. He’s just two for seven, though he’s at least trending in the right direction, having won each of the last two times he took a lead into the final round, including earlier this year in Phoenix.

Thomas? He’s had his moments. At the Northern Trust earlier this year, he blew a four-stroke lead in the final round, imploding with a four-over 75 on a wind-whipped Sunday at Riviera.

Hey, no one’s perfect, not even Tiger, whose most infamous 54-hole lead that slipped away came when Y.E. Yang took him down at the 2009 PGA Championship.

Sometimes, someone else simply plays better. Sometimes, a player chokes.

Thomas is proving he doesn’t do much of the latter.

“I don’t think you can ever necessarily call yourself the best closer,” he said after his victory at the CJ Cup. “I’ve only won 11 times. I feel like once I get to 40 or 50 times and I’ve closed a lot of those, then I think that’s kind of different.”

Thomas is off to a good start.

“The biggest thing I think that I’ve gotten a lot better at is just learning, taking experiences and learning from them,” he said. “That’s what I did early in my career. There were a couple times I felt like I should have won the tournament but I did something incorrectly or hit a wrong club or thought how I shouldn’t have, and I was able when I finished to look back at that.

“That’s all I’m trying to do because I feel like if I can just improve a little bit every year, then there’s not really a ceiling that I feel like I can’t reach.”

The post Justin Thomas is making a case he’s the best closer in golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers

Justin Thomas’ breakout 2017 has extended into the new season, beating Marc Leishman in a playoff in the inaugural CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges for his fifth win since January.

Thomas and Leishman entered the inaugural CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges as the two top players in the field, Thomas ranked No. 4 in the world and Leishman occupying the 16th spot. This was never more apparent than on the 72nd hole on Sunday, when both players took dead aim at the flag with woods in their hand at the par-5 18th, each setting up makeable eagle putts to potentially win. Neither putt fell, so it was back to the 18th for a playoff after the duo finished in a tie at nine-under 279 at Nine Bridges Golf Club in Jeju Island, South Korea.

Australia’s Leishman led the way, blocking his drive miles to the right and opening the door for Thomas, who sliced his drive as well but kept it in play. After they each battled their way out of difficult situations and matched with pars, they went back to the 18th. This time, both found the fairway, and Leishman took another swipe at the green, but found the water. Thomas went for it from 243 yards out anyway, striping it once again and finding the fringe in front of the green, setting up an up-and-down birdie that earned him the victory.

For Thomas, who carded a final-round even-par 72, he’s now won seven times in his career, three of those coming in the last three months as the 24-year-old appears to be keeping his 2017 PGA Tour player-of-the-year form. Leishman’s two-under 70 on Sunday wasn’t enough to win, but he continues an incredible stretch of golf with this week’s solo second finish. Since he missed the cut at the Players Championship in May, he has made 14 out of 15 cuts, including one win, four top-10s and four top-25s.

New event.
Same @JustinThomas34.

JT wins THE CJ CUP on the second playoff hole! ?#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/yBJpJvbosr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2017

Leishman played the final round alongside fellow countryman Cameron Smith, who had an excellent look at birdie at the par-5 18th to also grab a spot in the playoff. His putt just slid by, leading to a tap-in par for a two-under 70, getting him into the clubhouse one shot back at eight-under 280. After missing five of seven cuts to end his 2016-’17 campaign, Smith has opened this season with a T-5 and a solo third finish.

Whee Kim, playing in the first PGA Tour event in his home country, finished in solo fourth at six-under 282 after posting consecutive even-par 72s on the weekend. It’s Kim’s best result since the FedEx St. Jude Classic last June, where he tied for second.

Coming off a win at the CIMB Classic, Pat Perez put together another strong week in Asia, capped off by a bogey-free four-under 68 on Sunday, his low round of the tournament. He finished in a tie for fifth at five-under 283, giving him his fifth T-6 or better finish in addition to his two victories in the last year alone.

Also at five under were Anirban Lahiri, Scott Brown, Jamie Lovemark, Brian Harman and Luke List.

Patrick Reed, Jason Day, Rafa Cabrera Bello and South Korea’s Byeong Hun An finished five back at four-under 284.

The post Justin Thomas defeats Marc Leishman on second playoff hole to win the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers

Most weeks, following up a nine-under 63 with two rounds in the 70s would send a tour pro way down the leader board on the PGA Tour, giving them a deficit many wouldn’t be able to recover from. For Justin Thomas, a 74 and Saturday’s two-under 70 has been more than enough regain a share of the lead at nine-under 207 in the windy conditions at Nine Bridges Golf Club in Jeju Island, South Korea. It was so difficult in fact, that the FedEx Cup champion even impressed himself with Saturday’s performance.

“You can’t put it into words, but I know for a fact I played better today than I did on Thursday when I shot nine under,” Thomas said. “It’s just so hard out here, I’ve never played a place where the wind swirls as much as it does here.”

Despite that, Thomas still hit 12 of 18 greens, 11 of 14 fairways and needed just 28 putts on the challenging putting surfaces at Nine Bridges. His round began with a birdie and six pars, before making a costly double-bogey 6 at the par-4 eighth. Thomas rebounded, going two under on his final 10 holes to take back his Thursday lead.

“I knew that I would have to stay patient, and I did,” he said. “Today was a round I felt like I had at the end of the year, where I felt really like I was playing my best.”

If he’s able to find his best on Sunday, that gives the rest of the field an uphill battle to climb. A win would make it seven in Thomas’ nascent career, all coming within the last two years.

Also at nine under is Scott Brown, who carded a one-under 71 with three birdies and two bogeys. It’s his third-straight start of the 2017-’18 season, already having registered a top-25 in the CIMB Classic. Brown is looking to win for the second time in his PGA Tour career, the first coming at the 2013 Puerto Rico Open.

Two back at seven-under 209 are Presidents Cup teammates Anirban Lahiri and Marc Leishman. Lahiri’s three-under 69 was one of the strongest rounds of the day, while Leishman’s one-under 71 gives him three consecutive rounds of even par or better. They’ll play together in the penultimate group on Sunday in South Korea, with India’s Lahiri hoping to break through for his first career victory and Australia’s Leishman looking to notch his fourth.

Cameron Smith, Lucas Glover and South Korea’s Whee Kim sit three back in a tie for fifth at six-under 210.

The round of the day belonged to another South Korean, Byeong Hun An, who shot a five-under 67 that has him just four back at five-under 211. He’s joined by 36-hole leader Luke List, who struggled on Saturday, posting a four-over 76.

Six players are at four-under 212, including Kyle Stanley, Brian Harman and Paul Casey.

World No. 9 Jason Day is at three-under 216, six shots behind Thomas.

The post Justin Thomas rebounds, grabs share of the lead through 54 holes in the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.