For the second time in his career, Justin Thomas of Louisville, Kentucky has won a World Golf Championship event. At TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, Thomas put together a four-round score of -13, to win the 2020 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. The 2017 PGA Championship winner defeated Americans Daniel Berger, Phil Mickelson, and Brooks Koepka along with England’s Tom Lewis by three strokes.
It was an impressive comeback for Thomas. After 36 holes, it was unlikely Thomas was going to contend for the title as he was seven strokes back of Brendon Todd of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who was at -11. Even after the third round, Thomas was still four strokes back of Todd and in fifth place.
Then in the fourth round, the tournament got extremely exciting. At one point, there was a five-way tie for the lead. Thomas, Todd, Lewis, Berger, and Koepka were all at -11. However, at that point of the tournament, it was Thomas that showed his maturity like he had been there before. As Todd, Lewis, Berger, and Koepka each shot one-0ver-par thereafter, Thomas was actually two-under par thanks to a pair of lucky birdies on the 15th and 16th holes.
There was some drama at the end of the tournament as well. Koepka pulled within one stroke of Thomas with a dramatic 39-foot birdie-putt. However, he was unable to continue his momentum on the 18th hole, as his tee shot landed in the water.
Thomas’s prior World Golf Championship win came in 2018 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. That was the final year the WGC was in Akron, as it moved the following year to Memphis.
Normally there are four World Golf Championship events every year. However, in 2020, there appears to be only two. Patrick Reed of San Antonio, Texas won the WGC-Mexico Championship back in February. The World Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas was cancelled in March because of coronavirus, while the WGC-HSBC Champions event in Shanghai is questionable after China cancelled all international sporting events for the remainder of 2020 in July except for events that involved qualifying for the Olympic Games.
