Published July 17, 2008 on August 6, 2018

Thomas Cruises to WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Title

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World Number Two Justin Thomas cruised to his maiden World Golf Championship title with a commanding four-shot victory at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

As Firestone Country Club – playing host to this tournament for the final time before it moves to Memphis next year – made life difficult for the world’s best players on day four, overnight leader Thomas kept out of trouble, carding two birdies and a single bogey to get to 15 under par and secure a comfortable victory.

Thomas, who will defend his US PGA Championship title at Bellerive Country Club next week, was the only man in the final two groups to break par on Sunday with a closing 69 – his fourth straight round in the sixties this week. He now joins Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to win a Major Championship, a World Golf Championship and nine Tour victories before their 26th birthday.

Thomas said, “I’ve been knocking on the door this year between Mexico and the Match Play. I felt like I was very close and it was kind of one of the few things left that I felt I needed to knock off or felt that would have been nice to add to the resume, for sure. To win on a golf course like this, a championship golf course and always against a very tough field, it just felt great. I really, really played well all week.

“It was pretty special. I can’t really put it into words, honestly. When I had my putt, I kind of marked it and I turned around and I just happened to see my parents, saw my grandma and grandpa and I just got a huge knot in my throat and I just had to put my head down. I have never gotten like that on the golf course before. You just don’t know if they’re ever going to see me win if I don’t win here, so it was pretty cool to get it done.

“I’m just in a great place mentally right now, I just was so patient and calm all week. I mean, I think I made six bogeys all week, something like that, which is pretty good around this place as many birdies as I feel like I make. Kind of had a little bit of a loose day yesterday, I felt like, with the amount of bogeys I made, but I played really well. I drove the ball well.”

American Kyle Stanley finished alone in second place on 11 under after mixing five birdies with three bogeys, one stroke clear of Dane Thorbjørn Olesen, who produced his joint-lowest WGC round on a tough scoring day, and World Number One Dustin Johnson after they closed with matching 64s.

US Open Champion Brooks Koepka was another shot back in fifth, one ahead of four-time Major winner McIlroy, India’s Anirban Lahiri, and American pair Aaron Wise and Patrick Cantlay.

Final Scores

265 J Thomas (USA) 65 64 67 69,
269 K Stanley (USA) 63 68 70 68,
270 D Johnson (USA) 69 71 66 64, T Olesen (Den) 71 67 68 64,
271 B Koepka (USA) 66 70 68 67,
272 A Wise (USA) 67 71 67 67, R McIlroy (Nir) 65 67 67 73, A Lahiri (Ind) 65 70 69 68, P Cantlay (USA) 64 72 68 68,
273 J Day (Aus) 65 66 69 73, I Poulter (Eng) 62 67 70 74, S Kim (Kor) 64 68 72 69, T Finau (USA) 68 66 71 68,
274 M Leishman (Aus) 65 69 67 73, M Kuchar (USA) 68 70 67 69, T Fleetwood (Eng) 66 63 74 71,
275 Z Johnson (USA) 69 70 67 69, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 68 67 69 71, J Rahm (Esp) 64 70 68 73, G Woodland (USA) 67 71 69 68, R Fowler (USA) 63 74 65 73, R Fisher (Eng) 67 68 71 69,
276 C Smith (Aus) 70 70 69 67,
277 L List (USA) 65 68 71 73, W Simpson (USA) 69 65 71 72, P Mickelson (USA) 66 69 72 70, L Oosthuizen (RSA) 68 66 69 74,
278 T Hatton (Eng) 68 67 72 71, P Reed (USA) 66 70 70 72,
279 B Dechambeau (USA) 75 69 68 67,
280 P Casey (Eng) 68 71 71 70, T Woods (USA) 66 68 73 73, C Schwartzel (RSA) 71 72 74 63, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 70 69 71, B Watson (USA) 71 69 67 73, P Kizzire (USA) 68 67 74 71, K Na (USA) 65 72 70 73, A Noren (Swe) 70 73 66 71,
281 H Stenson (Swe) 70 69 69 73, H Li (Chn) 66 67 72 76, W Ormsby (Aus) 69 71 68 73, K Kisner (USA) 74 68 68 71, S Garcia (Esp) 70 69 67 75, K Chappell (USA) 71 72 68 70, F Molinari (Ita) 70 72 70 69, H Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 72 70 72, R Tokimatsu (Jpn) 68 71 71 71,
282 R Knox (Sco) 67 70 73 72, T Potter Jnr (USA) 70 66 75 71, A Björk (Swe) 69 71 71 71, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 66 70 73 73, D Berger (USA) 67 71 71 73,
283 A Cook (USA) 73 69 71 70, B Stone (RSA) 71 74 66 72, J Vegas (Ven) 70 75 70 68, C Hoffman (USA) 69 70 73 71,
284 A Landry (USA) 70 67 74 73, B An (Kor) 68 72 75 69, A Scott (Aus) 68 75 67 74,
285 J Spieth (USA) 71 72 68 74, B Steele (USA) 73 69 70 73,
286 B Harman (USA) 71 68 72 75,
287 S Kodaira (Jpn) 73 69 71 74, B Grace (RSA) 73 74 71 69, P Perez (USA) 68 70 73 76,
288 P Dunne (Irl) 71 68 75 74, E Grillo (Arg) 72 70 68 78,
292 X Schauffele (USA) 69 73 72 78,
293 K Ichihara (Jpn) 73 74 78 68, S Sharma (Ind) 72 79 72 70,
303 J Ahlers (RSA) 68 79 77 79,