WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Recap: Thomas Wins Third This Season

There are six weeks left in the PGA Tour season – two in the regular season, beginning with the PGA Championship this week, then the four playoff events.

It's not too early to begin talking about the Player of the Year and, with Justin Thomas' convincing win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday, that conversation just got a lot more interesting. And complicated.

Thomas' four-stroke win over Kyle Stanley – yes, it was not Rory McIlroy, who melted again in the head-to-head spotlight; more on that in a bit – gave him three wins on the season: the CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges in South Korea during the fall season, the Honda Classic with a tough field and now this elite World Golf Championship event. Pretty impressive. But hold on a minute …

Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson also have three wins apiece.

Johnson's victories were about as unimpressive as three wins can be: in the small field at the Tournament of Champions and in two lesser fields at the St. Jude Classic and Canadian Open.

Watson won in a stacked field at Riviera, at the WGC-Match Play and more recently at the Travelers.

Of course, the rest of their bodies or work during 2017-18 factor in. And, double of course, the season is far from over, with all the top players likely to tee it up in five of the six remaining events.

One thing is missing in everything we discussed so far: a major.

Patrick Reed won the Masters, but that's his only win. Same for Brooks Koepka at the U.S. Open. Francesco Molinari won the Open Championship, but he also has another win, at the Quicken Loans National.

Do two wins trump three when one of them is a major?

Wait, we're not done yet.

Thomas also has a runner-up, and it's at the WGC-Mexico. Johnson has two runners-up, at the WGC-HSBC Champions and Pebble Beach. Molinari also has a runner-up, at the John Deere.

Jason Day (Torrey Pines, Quail Hollow) and Justin Rose (WGC-HSBC, Colonial) also have two wins each.

This likely will go down to the wire at the Tour Championship. And even then there might not be a clear-cut option.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Justin Thomas
Thomas took over the top spot in the world rankings earlier this season. It wasn't long before Johnson got it back, but these guys could go back and forth – beginning this week. If Thomas successfully defends his PGA Championship title, and Johnson finishes no better than a three-way tie for second, the top spot would change hands. Thomas could even finish second and take over No. 1 if Johnson finished far enough back. With the win at Firestone, all of sudden it's not unimaginable to envision Thomas repeating what appeared to be a once-in-a-lifetime five-win season in 2016-17. We had him on our short list for the PGA even before he won the Bridgestone.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy once again stood mano-a-mano with another elite player and wilted. Granted, unlike against Patrick Reed at the Masters, this time he began with a three-shot deficit to Thomas. That's not easy for anyone to make up. But at least tread water. McIlroy shot a 3-over 73 to fall into a tie for sixth. Still, we will cautiously say that McIlroy has a great shot this week in the PGA. He has been playing well, and if he somehow can get the lead at Bellerive, we think that would be a big mental impediment that he'd have hurdled.

Tiger Woods
Here's what we wrote about Woods after the Quicken Loans National in early July. And we're feeling more confident in this assessment every week, certainly after his 6-over weekend at Firestone left him completely out of the mix in a tie for 31st. We wrote that Woods is "someone who could reach the top-20 or -30 in the point standings to qualify for the Tour Championship and the top-25 or so in the OWGR, which would get him into all the majors and WGCs. There are players every year who do that without winning a tournament. It's entirely possible that could happen for Woods. He normally plays only the top tournaments with the best fields – the National was an exception because his foundation was affiliated with the event – and that makes winning even harder." Woods may win again, and it could happen at any time, but don't be surprised if this takes a while. For the record, Woods is 47th in the FedEx Cup standings and 51st in the world.

Dustin Johnson
Johnson zoomed onto the first page of the leaderboard on Sunday, and a bad round by Thomas could've made things interesting. The final tally will look a bit misleading. After three meandering rounds, Johnson closed with a 6-under 64 in stress-free conditions to tie for third. It was Johnson's third straight week of action, following the Open Championship and his win in Canada. So it's probably good for him that the Bridgestone wasn't too taxing mentally, because he will need to expend a lot of energy both physically and mentally when he plays a fourth straight week and in a major. All that said, he's the favorite at the PGA, and rightfully so.

Jason Day
Day reinvigorated his career with a two-win first half of the season to return to the top-10 in the OWGR. He was firmly in mix when Sunday began at Firestone. He tailed off to a 73 to tie for 10th. Even if he had had a down week (within reason), we would've liked Day's chances at Bellerive. He has a great history in the PGA Championship (yes, we know they are played on different tracks every year), and we think he has a terrific chance to add a second career major this week.

Jordan Spieth
After putting himself in contention at the Open Championship, Spieth's horrible-for-him season continued as he was a nonfactor at the Bridgestone, tying for 60th. Now a nonwinner for more than a year, Spieth faces the prospect of going through the entire season without a victory. He has five more chances – the PGA and the four playoff events. That's if he qualifies for all four. He currently sits 43rd in the point standings. These will be five elite fields, making winning even harder. The one thing we keep coming back to, despite such a down year, is: He's still Jordan Spieth. He can do it.

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau followed his late meltdown in Hamburg with an opening 75 at Firestone – and many people might've been thinking that he's come off the wheels at the worst possible time – late in the season and with a Ryder Cup berth on the line. But DeChambeau steadied himself with a 69-68-67 finish, climbing 27 spots on the leaderboard on Sunday alone. He still finished 30th, but you can feel better about picking DeChambeau for the PGA, if you've been wanting to. We think it's a smart play, especially at the DraftKings price. More importantly, Jim Furyk can feel better about DeChambeau being a captain's pick if he doesn't qualify for the Ryder Cup team on points.

Francesco Molinari
The hottest golfer in the galaxy couldn't sniff the hole this week, and that's completely understandable. Two weeks after Molinari's life-altering major win at Carnoustie, he sleep-walked through the week in Akron, Ohio – which is very easy to do if you've ever been to Akron, Ohio. Molinari easily could've mailed it on Sunday but he didn't, shooting his best round of the tournament, a 1-under 69. That certainly leaves a better taste in our mouths when considering Molinari this week at Bellerive.

Henrik Stenson
Stenson withdrew from the Scottish Open with an elbow injury, then was a nonfactor at the British, leaving us to wonder about the state of his elbow. But he played four rounds at Firestone (T39), will play the PGA this week and has already committed to defend his title at the Wyndham the week after. That's a lot of golf and a lot of planning, leading us to confidently believe that Stenson's elbow is fine.

Andrew Putnam
The Web.com grad started the season as, well, an ordinary Web.com grad. He missed cuts left and right. But Putnam really started to show growth during the season, with a bunch of top-10s and top-25s. He added one more in a big way on Sunday by winning the opposite-field Barracuda Championship for his first career PGA Tour title. Putnam not only gained the final berth in this week's PGA and locked up his card for the next two seasons, he moved to 31st in the point standings, putting him squarely in the East Lake conversation. With a superior short game – both wedge and putter – Putnam is someone who has the game for a steady stream of high finishes (but not this week at the PGA).