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Sentry Tournament of Champions: Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed provided a classic matchup

By Bill Felber

KAPALUA, HAWAII - JANUARY 05: Justin Thomas of the United States shakes hands with Patrick Reed of the United States after defeating him on the third playoff hole on the 18th green during the third round of the Sentry Tournament Of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course on January 05, 2020 in Kapalua, Hawaii. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
KAPALUA, HAWAII - JANUARY 05: Justin Thomas of the United States shakes hands with Patrick Reed of the United States after defeating him on the third playoff hole on the 18th green during the third round of the Sentry Tournament Of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course on January 05, 2020 in Kapalua, Hawaii. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed have two completely different styles on the course, and it made for a fantastic finish to the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The contrasts between the games of Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed are so stark that when the two square off in a playoff, it’s virtually the quintessential PGA Tour test.

Both are superb, yet they attain that excellence in markedly different ways. Reed is mercurial, capable of either going very low or relatively high. During the 2018-19 season, he recorded more missed cuts (3) than top-five finishes, yet he won the Northern Trust and racked up $3.583 million in winnings.

Thomas is by far the steadier of the two. His 2018-19 season included a BMW win and five other top-fives, against just two missed cuts. He earned $5 million.

Last year Reed averaged just 0.876 Strokes Gained against the field overall, far less than the 2.385 strokes Thomas gained.

Yet when he’s hot, Reed can be by far the better putter. At the Sentry Tournament of Champions he gained 2.3 strokes per round on the greens against the field. Justin Thomas gained less than a quarter of a stroke that way.

Thomas is the steadier player. His  69.466 average score last season was more than a half stroke better than Reed. To date this season he has picked up between a quarter stroke and a full stroke in all four of the major Strokes Gained measurements, off the tee, approaching the green, around the green and putting.

That has resulted in a steady +2.385 Strokes Gained Advantage for Thomas all season. Reed last season managed no better than +0.335 in any Strokes Gained discipline, and the sum equaled just +0.876.

So their playoff at the Sentry, in company with Xander Schauffele, represented the symbolic collision of fire and ice. Eventually ice won out, Thomas defeating Reed with a par on the third playoff hole. Schauffele dropped out on the first playoff hole.

They may have gone about their tasks in far different ways, but Patrick Reed and Justin Thomas – along with Schauffele – arrived at their playoff on merit. All shot -14 for the 72 holes at Kapalua’s renovated Plantation Course, and all three finished at 2.728 Strokes Gained per round superior to the field.

Reed dominated the greens, but Schauffele was better off the tee and Thomas controlled the approach game. The breakdown of the trio’s performance demonstrates that there are at least three ways to get to the same spot on Tour.

Player                  Off Tee   Appr.     Around      Putt       Total

Thomas               0.633       1.432     0.446       0.217     2.728

Reed                     0.069     -0.358     0.698       2.319     2.728

Schauffele          1.158        0.974     0.775     -0.179     2.728

When tournaments come down to sudden death playoffs, they tend to be decided by chance occurrences. On the first playoff hole, Reed — the tournament’s best putter — ran a potential winning putt well past the hole and then missed coming back.

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Reed also failed to get up and down for birdie from the fringe after Thomas dropped his third shot in easy birdie range on the third playoff hole. It was an ironic way for the tournament’s best putter to lose, and explainable only by chance.

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