PGA Championship Recap: Thomas Wins First Major

They say that Justin Thomas is pound-for-pound the longest hitter in golf. He sure does produce quite a wallop from his 5-foot-10, 145-pound frame, ranking among the top-10 in driving distance on the PGA Tour.

But last week, in the strongest field in golf all season, Thomas hit it farther than everyone. Farther than Dustin Johnson, farther than Rory McIlroy. That remarkable display of power off the tee carried Thomas to his first major title in the 99th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

With three other victories earlier in the season, Thomas is almost a shoo-in for Player of the Year. He also moved to career-best No. 6 in the world rankings.

Thomas generates such force from his golf swing that he is able to hit the ball remarkably far for someone with such a slight build. Over four rounds at Quail Hollow, Thomas average 328 yards on his drives. No, distance has never been a problem for Thomas. Hitting it straight is the problem.

Thomas sits 175th in driving accuracy percentage on the Tour out of only 202 qualified golfers. But at the PGA, Thomas thrived on the wider-than-usual fairways for a major to tie for 62nd in accuracy. Since Thomas hits it so far, when he can also find the fairway or come reasonably close, well, he wins a major tournament by two strokes.

He is Mickelson-like in his recklessness off the tee, and if often costs him. For an elite golfer, Thomas has missed six cuts in 21 starts this season. Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Johnson have missed only three each, and Hideki Matsuyama just one.

But Thomas' distance often is enough to overcome his wildness – provided he is on the right course. In January, Thomas won twice in Hawaii on fairways as wide as John Daly. But on the wrong course, Thomas' game goes sideways much faster than the four golfers mentioned above.

Thomas, of course, will take the trade-off. He's 24 years old and has scratched his name off the list of best golfers never to have won a major.

There's nothing much wilder than that.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Patrick Reed

For all the bravado Reed carries around, Sunday was the first time he's ever finished in a top-10 in a major. Reed tied for second with Francesco Molinari and Louis Oosthuizen. It was remarkable that his breakthrough came now, with Reed completing a run of eight straight tournaments dating to the U.S. Open. Is there a major in Reed's future? We suppose, though Reed has built his career on international team competitions, not big tournament wins. If nothing else, his PGA result surely sewed up a berth for him on the Presidents Cup roster, if he didn't have one wrapped up already.

Louis Oosthuizen

Oosthuizen was the only golfer among the leaders with prior major victory. Instead of adding a second, Oosthuizen completed another rather remarkable accomplishment: He's now been runner-up in each of the four majors. This time, the result was more of a surprise, as the South African had not been amid a great season. He definitely rises in the biggest tournaments, so be mindful of that the rest of the season.

Francesco Molinari

Molinari was bidding to become the first Italian major winner. Instead, he continued a terrific season with his best finish yet. Molinari has five top-10s and a whopping 13 top-25s on the PGA Tour this season, and he could be a big factor in the upcoming playoffs.

Hideki Matsuyama

Carrying the weight and expectations of his native Japan, Matsuyama faces hurdles other golfers don't. But yet he still had the lead on the front nine on Sunday before retreating to a tie for fifth with Fowler. Matsuyama was done in by his waywardness off the tee. He lifted his arms to point wide left or wide right so often he could've hailed a cab. (And even so, Matsuyama was far better than Thomas accuracy-wise, tying for 35th). Matsuyama's main drawback has been his putter. But he was 12th in the field in strokes gained putting, an indicator that his time for a first major will come soon.

Kevin Kisner

Kisner was bidding to go wire to wire but faded into a tie for seventh with Graham DeLaet. His game was so solid for two and a half rounds with only three total bogeys. But the pressure began to get to him with three on the back-nine on Saturday, and four more on the back-nine on Sunday. Kisner is a very nice player – now 24th in the OWGR – but he's not a long hitter like some of the others above him on the leaderboard, and it finally caught up with him. Interestingly, Kisner is one of the few guys in the top-50 in the rankings slated to play the Wyndham this week. But it's tough to regroup so quickly after the week he had. He'd probably be smart to withdraw.

Chris Stroud

Stroud has been around more than a decade but just enjoyed the two best weeks of his professional life. The 35-year-old won a three-man Barracuda Championship playoff just to get into the PGA, and he was in contention until a back-nine fade on Sunday left him tied for ninth. Stroud also is in the Wyndham field, but we can't imagine he has much left in the tank after two such mentally grueling weeks in a row.

Jason Day

Day has been showing indications of regaining his form for a few weeks now. And if not for an ugly quad-8 on No. 18 on Saturday, he could've been a factor on Sunday. Instead, he tied for ninth with Stroud and Matt Kuchar. Day has done well in the playoffs before, and it wouldn't be overly surprising to see him win one of the four events.

Rory McIlroy

The huge favorite along with Spieth was never a factor in tying for 22nd. And now McIlroy says his twice-injured ribs are still bothering him, and he's not sure how much he'll play the rest of the year. Regardless, something continues to be off McIlroy's game, and your fantasy dollars could be better spent than on a high-priced injured player, albeit someone who is perhaps the best in the world when healthy.

Bubba Watson

Watson had been making a nice little late-season run to mask a horrible season. But then he went ahead and shot 77 on Thursday, leading to a Friday trunk slam. Watson is safely into the first playoff event at 111th in the standings, but it could be a one-and-done for him.

Sergio Garcia

Maybe Garcia should've reconsidered his summer plans, most notably getting married the week before a WGC and two weeks before a major. He followed up a T39 at the Bridgestone with a missed cut at the PGA. When you parlay a remarkable Masters win with getting married all within a few months, two life-altering events will put a dent in your golf game. We're not sure how well the Spaniard will do the rest of the season.

Phil Mickelson

Mickelson is in some real trouble. He hadn't missed a cut at the PGA in two decades before crashing and burning last week. Mickelson hadn't been playing all that well all season, and he hasn't won in more than four years. Parting ways with longtime caddie Jim Mackay recently doesn't appear to be helping.

RotoWire Value Picks

Last week: Winner (Matsuyama), runner-up (Z. Johnson), four top-10s, 11 top-25s.
This week: Runner-up (Molinari), four top-10s, six top-25s, four missed cuts.

Molinari is the headline, finishing second as a sub-$7,000 long-shot pick. But there was another success. Matsuyama and Fowler tied for fifth out of Tier 1. Spieth and McIlroy were way back, at T28 and T22, respectively. In Tier 2, Kuchar paid off with a T9, and another steady player, Paul Casey, tied for 13th. But Adam Scott woefully tied for 61st. Still, that was better than Mickelson's missed cut. In Tier 3, don't ask. Daniel Berger and Brendan Steele didn't reach the weekend, while Jamie Lovemark was T33, and formerly red-hot Charley Hoffman tied for 48th. Among the remaining long shots, Tony Finau (T44) and Zack Johnson (T48) just treaded water, but that was more than Xander Schauffele did while missing the cut.