3. THOMAS DRIVES TO VICTORY AT HONDA
Date: Feb. 25, 2018
Event: The Honda Classic
Where: PGA National (Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
Winner: Justin Thomas -8 (playoff) | Runner-up: Luke List -8
Recap: Thomas, the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year, used a 5-under 65 in the third round to get into the final Sunday pairing with List, and started the day one stroke back of the lead at 6 under.
A birdie on the par-3 3rd hole, coupled with a bogey-bogey stretch on Nos. 3 and 4 for List, put Thomas out front at 7-under par, where he stayed until he carded his only bogey of the day on the par-4 9th hole.
What might be remembered most about that front nine, though, was a fortuitous tee shot bounce off a rock wall on the par-3 5th that nearly led to an ace, before settling 10 feet from the hole, which allowed Thomas to escape with a par.
“I didn’t even know it hit the rocks. Because it was going right at it but it was kind of ballooning. You could see it was floating a little bit. I wasn’t sure if it was going to get there or not,” said Thomas.
“And then as sad as it is to say, we didn’t see any sand come up, like it does on some of the greens.
“We figured it probably didn’t land on the green ask we kind of heard a click, and Jimmy looked at that — I had no idea and he had no idea, and then all of a sudden, I saw it almost went in.”
Thomas then went bogey-free on a back nine which created heartache all over the field all week, with birdies on 13 and 18 to reach a playoff with List which required just one extra hole.
Thomas reached the par-5 18th, the site of the of the first playoff hole in two, and then two-putted for the victory.
WATCH JT AND LUKE LIST BATTLE IN A PLAYOFF
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