CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Justin Thomas started the par-5 10th on Sunday at the PGA Championship trailing leader and playing competitor Hideki Matsuyama by a stroke. But thanks to a couple of good breaks, it turned out to be a pivotal hole in his quest to capture his first career major.
Thomas got a very fortunate kick off a tree with his tee shot, which you can see below:
“I talk to my ball a lot, and anytime it’s going somewhere I didn’t wish it would, I probably am saying, ‘Get lucky,’ or something like that,” Thomas said. “And I said that in the air, ‘Get lucky, just spit it out for me, please.’ And it spit it out, and right in the middle of the fairway. I told (caddie) Jimmy (Johnson), ‘That’s why you ask.’”
He took advantage of that good luck and left himself with 7 feet for birdie – to stay within one of Matsuyama, who made a lengthy birdie putt on the hole.
Thomas’ putt died on the left edge of the cup. He circled in disbelief … and then the putt fell. By rule, he has 10 seconds to tap in the putt – beginning once he makes an effort to address the ball. So, no issue with the amount of time it took the ball to fall.
“I thought it might be our day, like it was Jordan (Spieth)'s at Hartford. I was like, that might be an omen,” Johnson said of the theatrics on No. 10. “You never know. But you have to have good things happen to you to win a golf tournament, that’s the bottom line.”
After gaining a one-shot advantage, Thomas added to his lead by holing this chip on the par-3 13th to go two clear of the field, which ultimately proved to be the winning margin.