Justin Thomas

Thomas, who entered the final round seven shots behind the leader, beat Will Zalatoris in a playoff to win his second career major championship.

“I was very calm in the playoff and very calm in the final holes before the playoff, which helped a lot,” Thomas said. He also sank a 10-foot putt to save par at the final hole to shoot 71 for the final round and finish at five under par overall. He was tied for eighth at the 2021 P.G.A. Championship and tied for sixth at the 2020 U.S. Open. His birdie putt skidded past the hole, and Zalatoris tapped in for par. Thomas and Zalatoris began the playoff with birdies on the first hole, the 13th. Thomas missed consecutive manageable birdie putts at the 13th and 14th holes, but then splashed a shot from a greenside bunker at the par-4 17th hole to within 3 feet, a distance he successfully negotiated for his fifth birdie of the day. “It’s such a stressful situation,” Pereira said of the atmosphere on the 18th tee. Pereira, the third-round leader, had appeared poised to become the first golfer from Chile to win a major golf championship. After a penalty shot drop from the water, Pereira’s approach shot found the thick rough alongside the green. “It was a bizarre day, no doubt,” Thomas, who also won the 2017 P.G.A. Championship, said. Then the focus of the tournament shifted to Tiger Woods, 46, who arrived at the Southern Hills Country Club to resume his stirring comeback from injuries he sustained in a horrific car crash 15 months ago. His final-round rally tied for the third-largest comeback in major championship history.

Born in Louisville and a graduate of St. Xavier High School, Justin Thomas has made a name for himself at the PGA Championship and in the golf world.

Thomas turned pro in 2013 and earned his tour card on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school. Thomas trailed by seven strokes when Sunday's final round began, and his comeback ties the largest final-round comeback in PGA Championship history. It was the first in a PGA Championship since 2011. Born in Louisville, Thomas attended St. Xavier High School, a male-only Catholic school. Thomas made waves this week when he joined the outcry over beer prices at the tournament. Prior to his junior year, he played in the Wyndham Championship in 2009 and became the third-youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event at 16.

Veteran caddie Jim 'Bones' Mackay gave Justin Thomas a Saturday night pep talk on the driving range that helped change his attitude before their Sunday win.

It just means a tremendous amount to be out here with someone … you know, all the guys I've caddied for I'm grateful, but I've just had a great run out here as a caddie. “Because I really like him … and I think he's got more shots than anybody on the tour,” Mackay said. “You know, I've been so spoiled out here,” Mackay said. Mickelson, at age 50, captured his sixth major a year ago with a remarkable performance at the PGA at Kiawah Island. He wasn’t on hand at Southern Hills, choosing to not defend his title as he continues a leave from golf after his controversial comments about the PGA Tour and the rival upstart LIV Series tour. “The gist of it was simply that there is nothing out here that you need to fix,” Mackay said. I didn't need to bring my frustration and anger home with me. The reason was academic. That was the number on the card, but there was nothing to fix. And I wanted to be around it.” As luck would have it, they played the final round with Mickelson and his brother, Tim, who now works as his caddie. It was a really good message.” Standing nearby, Mike Thomas, Justin’s father and swing coach, knew he was hearing the right thing and it was coming from the right person.

Justin Thomas won the PGA Championship for a second time but Mito Pereira's failure to seal victory may prove more memorable.

The run was halted by a bogey at the 6th and run of 10 pars before another dropped shot at the 17th. “You can do all the work in the world but you need to get out and play tournament golf. That McIlroy did not stop for media duties suggested he was seriously stung by the playing out of this tournament after an opening 65. A terrific drive to within 40ft of the pin at the par-four 17th, the second playoff hole, was key to victory. Thomas blasted himself into contention with a birdie putt from 65ft that found the bottom of the hole at the 11th. This tournament proved the slowest of burners but high drama was worth the wait.

Justin Thomas used spot-on iron play and superior putting to win his second PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club.

Thomas first put the irons in play at the CJ Cup in October but has been partial to muscle-backs for some time. Although it is similar in shape to the putter he put in the bag at last year’s Open Championship in appearance, there are differences. “With the sound, he felt the new one was a bit hollow,” said Titleist’s PGA Tour putter rep Drew Page. "In order to make the sound similar to what he was playing we added an aluminum plate across the back cavity. Thomas had the putter at his Florida home and practiced with it during his time off. Then on the second hole, JT unleashed a bomb with his 15-degrees Titleist TS3 3-wood that carried 288 yards and landed just in front of the green on the short, par-4 17th before bounding onto the green, leading to another birdie that thrust him into the lead. But the 2017 PGA champ kept chipping away, playing the final nine holes in 32 to give him a final-round 67, and eventually, a playoff with Will Zalatoris after Mito Pereira knocked his tee shot in the water on 18 and made double bogey.

After starting the day seven strikes back, the former Crimson Tide star played the last 12 holes in 5-under par and won a three-hold aggregate playoff.

You just have to play golf and you have to execute. Q. Can you describe what it feels like to sort of live the childhood dream of: This is a huge pressure moment, I have to hit this shot like 17 in the playoff? I mean, you don't -- you want to win a golf tournament. Yeah, it was just one of those things where I felt like the golf course was going to be set up a little bit, like pretty conducive to birdies. Again, the north wind just made it a little bit more difficult, and it was kind of switching a little bit to east. I just haven't had the trophies to show, and I'd fallen in the World Ranking, and that just kind of shows how strong it was or how strong the game of golf is. It kind of goes back to what I said on Thursday of just not trying to play golf swing, not trying to play the field, not trying to play to a certain person really. Bogeying 3 was a bad -- it wasn't a bad bogey, but it wasn't a good one I guess you could say. I think when I made the birdie on 12, there's just different roars, different energy that you can feel sometimes, and I felt that that one was pretty big. JUSTIN THOMAS: As soon as I found out I was going to be in a playoff. It challenged us, and I was excited for that because, although I would have loved to have seen this place in a north wind, I hadn't before. But if you hit the fairways you can make birdies, and I stayed so patient, I just couldn't believe I found myself in a playoff.

Justin Thomas holds the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship golf tournament in s playoff against Will Zalatoris at Southern Hills Country ...

He made a two-putt birdie while Zalatoris could only manage par, sending the 2017 PGA champ to the 18th again — this time with a one-shot lead of his own. Thomas had rattled off a couple of birdies on the back side before an up-and-down for birdie at the 17th, moving him to 5 under and within a shot of the lead. So I will bottle that putt on 18 for the future.” Coming up behind him, Zalatoris had finally wrangled his renegade irons in time to make birdie at the 17th, getting him back to 5 under. Chile's Mito Pereira had a career-changing moment staring him in the face until a fateful shot on the 18th hole. Cameron Young tried to move up the leaderboard during the final round, then left his chances of victory in a fairway bunker on the 16th hole.

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His drive at the last hole of the tournament looked like a check-swing and prompted somebody I was walking alongside to say, "It looked like he got electrocuted at impact." That was before J.T. hit shot of the tournament on its second-to-last hole: a high-hanging missile that turned over itself, hit the front of the green and settled 34 feet from the cup. It reflected the receding sun in an Oklahoma sky that last saw a major championship won by Tiger Woods in 2007. The handler in his polo and vest carried this 27-pound, 28-inch high cup as Thomas ascended next to him. Zalatoris took off his cap and clapped his hands from a distance as the normally placid Thomas broke down. As Thomas walked to the 17th, a spectator hollered, "Mama, that's a bad man." All the hours and everything and the time put in, you want to be in that scenario. Then something happened that reminded everyone of his last major win, the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. J.T. ran in a putt from 65 feet on No. 11, half-bowed to the crowd and tipped his hat. Thomas birdied No. 12 as well and then missed a birdie putt at No. 15 that would have brought the house down. An up-and-down birdie at the drivable par-4 17th -- that Bones said was tougher than it looked -- got J.T. to 5 under with mighty No. 18 awaiting. Thomas moved his ball around with so much aplomb early in the week it looked as if Jim "Bones" Mackay was steering it with a remote control. J.T. played late Thursday and early Friday in a wave that was two strokes harder than the other side.

Justin Thomas has always had the game. After an epic comeback that left little doubt about that, he has a second PGA Championship to show for it.

"If I was ever going to caddie again, this was the time and, without question, this was the player," Mackay said. All the hours and everything, and the time put in, you want to be in that scenario. "I just cold-shanked it," Thomas said. Mackay was quick to concede this win was as special as any in his career. "I was just trying to birdie every hole I could. Thomas was borderline despondent when he went to the range on Saturday night. When it was all over -- after Thomas completed one of the greatest comebacks in the history of major championships -- he crouched next to the green and pulled the bill of his hat down over his eyes. "I hate to use a cliché, but he was as cool as a cucumber out there," Mackay said. Again, I couldn't control what anybody else was going to do." I suggested that Thomas and Rory McIlroy did not possess the cold-blooded ruthlessness of their mentor Tiger Woods, and that they had missed another chance to make an argument on behalf of their legacies. Not everyone believed Thomas had this in him, particularly after a deflating third round 74 left him seven shots behind leader Mito Pereira. All someone in the top 5 had to do was shoot even par and the mountain would be too steep to climb. "It's such an unbelievable, cool feeling that you just want to enjoy it."