Published July 17, 2008 on August 3, 2020

Korea’s An Settles for Tied 12th as Thomas Wins WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

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Korea’s Byeong Hun An jumped on the bogey train early in the final round and saw his hopes of winning the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational derailed on Sunday.

 

One shot back at the start of the day, the 28-year-old made six bogeys in his opening 12 holes at TPC Southwind, dashing any hopes of securing a first PGA Tour victory. He signed off with a 73, which also featured three birdies, to settle for joint 12^thposition.

 

An, who played in the final pairing with third-round leader Brandon Todd, paid dearly for some errant tee shots as he hit only six fairways all day which left him scrambling for par saves. He salvaged his card with a couple of late birdies on 14 and 16 by sinking putts of 21 feet and 14 feet respectively to end the week on 8-under 272, five strokes behind winner Justin Thomas.

Thomas carded a brilliant final round 65 to claim his second World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational title and 13^th PGA Tour career victory, making him the third youngest player at 27 years and three months old to reach the milestone, behind only to Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus.

 

The stylish three-stroke victory over Daniel Berger (65), Tom Lewis (66), Phil Mickelson (67) and Brooks Koepka (69) extended Thomas’ lead in the FedExCup race and saw him reclaim the No. 1 spot on the Official World Golf Ranking, dislodging Spaniard Jon Rahm who had reached the summit for the first time last week.

 

Asia’s other representatives endured mixed results. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama shot a 68 to finish tied 20^th while Korea’s Sungjae Im returned a 73 to fall back to joint 35^th position and remained in third place in the FedExCup points list. Countryman Sung Kang carded a 72 for tied 44^th while Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, making his debut in Memphis, concluded his week with a 69 to tie for 59^th position.

 

C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei settled for joint 72^nd position after a 72 while China’s Haotong Li was further back in equal 75^th place after a 75.