Among those waiting for Thomas alongside the 18th green were his father and Spieth.
Spieth and Thomas first became close when they played the Junior Evian Masters in 2007. Thomas won the 36-hole event and got to play the pro-am the next day with LPGA great Juli Inkster. Spieth caddied for him.
Ten years later, they have won consecutive Majors. And Thomas finally emerged from the shadow of a longtime friend to take his place among the young elite in golf.
Thomas won by two shots over Francesco Molinari (67), Patrick Reed (67) and Louis Oosthuizen (70), none of whom was a serious threat as they played the 18th. His real challenge was Hideki Matsuyama playing next to him, and Kevin Kisner, the 54-hole leader in the group behind him, both spent a lot of time atop the leaderboard during the week.
Kisner, who led or shared the lead after each of the first three rounds, wound up in a tie for seventh place. Matsuyama finished one stroke better than Kisner, in a tie for fifth place, after sharing the 36-hole lead and starting the final round one stroke back.
But the day was not for Kisner, whose sound-as-granite game finally wavered, with four bogeys and a double. Not for Matsuyama, whose chances wilted with five bogeys on the back nine, as the whole Japan mourned.
Pages
Click here to see the published article.
