After 1,064 days, Justin Thomas finally got back into the winner's circle on Sunday at the RBC Heritage, defeating Andrew Novak on the first playoff hole at Harbour Town Golf Links to claim his first victory since the 2022 PGA Championship.
Playing in the penultimate group behind 54-hole leader Si Woo Kim and Andrew Novak, Thomas was one of roughly 10 players on Sunday who had a legitimate chance to win this golf tournament. And while he didn't quite have his best stuff, he made the shots he needed to make exactly when he needed to make them.
After opening his final round with four consecutive pars, JT made his first birdie of the day at the par-5 fifth and added a second at the par-4 eighth to get to 16-under.
Holding a one-shot lead heading into his second nine, the Kentucky native opened the closing stretch with five straight pars before taking advantage of the lone par-5 on the back side. Initially, however, it didn't look as if that would be the case.
After being forced to lay up following an errant tee shot, Thomas hit an average approach for his third but holed a 25-foot birdie putt to get to 3-under on his day.
After signing for a bogey-free 68 after three more pars to close out his round, Thomas sat in the scoring tent tied with Novak for the lead at 17-under and watched a monitor as Novak hit his approach into the 18th green to eight feet, giving himself a great chance at his first PGA Tour victory.
But the birdie effort never came close, thus sending things to a playoff.
Replaying the 18th, both found the fairway off the tee. Thomas was the first to play and hit his approach just over 21 feet past the hole, and then looked on as Novak just snuck onto the putting surface, leaving himself roughly 34 feet for birdie.
After Novak left his putt short, Thomas calmly walked up and drained his birdie effort, thus claiming his 16th PGA Tour victory.
While every win is special, this one was particularly meaningful for JT, as this was his first as a father. But this one also put him in a highly exclusive club full of legends.
Justin Thomas is just the seventh with 16 PGA Tour wins and two major championships before turning 32
Actually, before we get into the list of legendary players the 31-year-old joined with his win at the RBC Heritage, another entertaining little nugget is that he's the first player on the PGA Tour this season to hold the opening-round lead and go on to win.
Thomas, of course, fired a first-round 61 on Thursday, tying the course record at Harbour Town. It was also his 14th round of 62 or better on the PGA Tour, the most of any player over the last 40 years.
Now, let's get to the legends.
As mentioned, Thomas' win at Hilton Head was his 16th PGA Tour victory. As such, the two-time PGA Championship winner is just the seventh golfer in the last 65 years with at least 16 PGA Tour titles and two major championships. And just take a look at the six who came before him:
- Arnold Palmer
- Jack Nicklaus
- Johnny Miller
- Tom Watson
- Tiger Woods
- Rory McIlroy
That's some pretty good company right there.