Justin Thomas

Justin Thomas and his father, Mike, on the 18th green after Thomas sank a putt to win his second PGA Championship on Sunday.

 PGA of America

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- From a golf standpoint, he'd been left for dead. At some point during Sunday's final round of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, it was mentioned that Justin Thomas had a 1.2% chance of winning the tournament, given that he was seven shots back entering the final round and eight back at one point during it.

But Thomas, who has always showed undeniable talent, showed uncommon toughness Sunday, a cool under pressure that could well add to his collection of two major championships — a feat that he is the first Kentuckian to accomplish.

He shot three-under par on the back nine in regulation Sunday and was the only player in the final seven groups to play the course under par for the round. From the clubhouse, he then watched leader Mito Pereira hit into the water on the 18th hole, make double to fall out of the lead, and then calmly came out and beat Will Zalatoris, making a 2-foot birdie putt after an outstanding tee shot on the second playoff hole, No. 17, for all the edge he needed.

Walking up the fairway on No. 18 for the second time, Thomas determined to take it all in. He admitted that the first time he won the PGA Championship — his first major at only 24 years of age — everything was a blur. This time, he wanted to enjoy it and he did.

He sank his putt to win and crouched on the green and pulled down his cap. Having just matched the largest final-round comeback in PGA Championship history, it looked as if he was fighting back tears. His father and coach, Mike Thomas, put his arm around him.

Back in 2017, as a young player, for all Thomas knew, his next major win was right around the corner. He now knows what goes into it. And he said he's going to savor it.

"I was walking up 18 in the playoff, and I knew it wasn't over, but I looked up and I wanted to take it in because you don't know when and if it's going to happen again," Thomas said. "It's such an unbelievable, cool feeling that you just want to enjoy it."

Before the tournament, Thomas had told reporters he was kind of lost, that he was still searching for his swing, working with his father on the range to try to get himself right. Let's just say he succeeded. Still, it took a good bit of mental discipline to finish with his best stuff after going into the back nine with a deficit of eight strokes.

Justin Thomas wins 2022 PGA Championship

"A lot of self-belief, a lot of patience," Thomas said when asked how he did it. "I wasn't looking at leaderboards today. I was just trying to play golf. It kind of goes back to what I said on Thursday of just not trying to play golf swing, not trying to play the field, not trying to play to a certain person really. Just trying to execute each shot as well as I could, and then wherever it ended up, just give my club to (caddie Jim) 'Bones' (Mackay) and let's move on and try to do the best we can on the next one. He did an unbelievable job of keeping me in the moment and keeping me patient today, and yeah, it just is an unbelievable team win for all of us.”

After Saturday's third round, Thomas was ticked off with himself. After contending, he'd shot a four-over par 73 to drop to seven strokes back. And he was in a sour mood but he credited a conversation with Mackay for helping to set him right. Mackay, a veteran caddie who spent 25 years with Phil Mickelson, left his job as an NBC golf commentator — where he was a sparkling addition — to return to the game as Thomas' caddie last September. Thomas was fuming, but Mackay urged him to ease up.

"I'm fully confident in saying that I wouldn't be standing here if he didn't give me that — wasn't necessarily a speech, but a talk, if you will," Thomas said. "I just needed to let some steam out. I didn't need to bring my frustration and anger home with me. I didn't need to leave the golf course in a negative frame of mind. I just went down — I played pretty well yesterday for shooting four-over — and I felt like I'd played terrible. And he was just like, 'Dude, you've got to be stop being so hard on yourself. You're in contention every single week we're playing.' I've had a lot of chances to win tournaments, and it's a hard golf course. Iit's a major championship. You don't have to be perfect. Just don't be hard on yourself. Just kind of let stuff happen, and everything is trending in the right direction. So just keep staying positive so that good stuff can happen."

Thomas went to the range, kept hitting balls, was perhaps the last player left at the course, and despite his earlier anger about the round, his mindset flipped in that short time.

"I left here in an awesome frame of mind," he said. "It was very -- I think the last player here. It was like this out right now. It was so peaceful. It was almost kind of eerie how beautiful it was outside, and there's not very many times after shooting four-over on Saturday of a major I left in as good a frame of mind as I have."

That doesn't mean the final round went perfectly. He came to the par-3 sixth hole Sunday with a birdie chance to cut into his seven-stroke deficit. Instead, he shanked his tee shot about as badly as anybody you'd see out at your local municipal course on the weekend. The ball wound up on a part of the course that isn't even mapped. When that happens, most of us would figure it's not our day.

Thomas recovered for bogey, "the best bogey I've ever made in my life," he said. And afterward, he quipped that he could cross "winning a tournament after shanking one on Sunday" off his list. He'd never done it before.

The congratulations rolled in after his victory. His friend and a mentor, Tiger Woods, Tweeted congratulations. So did Jack Nicklaus.

Asked how he has improved as a golfer since the last time he won the PGA Championship, Thomas said he feels like there's been an improvement in every area but not dramatic improvement in any one.

"I've matured a lot," Thomas said. "Five years is a long time, especially at this stage of my life. I would like to think and hope that everything has just gotten a little better. There's nothing that's like standing out of a massive difference. I would say the biggest difference is I probably just weigh about 15 pounds more. I don't know. I've put on some weight. That's just the big part of it is you just want to get 1% better. I don't need to revamp everything. I don't need to hit it 30 yards farther. I don't need to change equipment, change ball, change — it's just everything that I have and been doing has been working. It's just trying to just get it a little bit better. I just feel like that's what I've done in every facet.”

And now he sets his sights on more. Another major. More tour wins. He has played well all season but hasn’t had the results to show for it. And while you can't assume one win could be a breakthrough, it always has that possibility. But first, he'll make sure not to miss the chance to appreciate the moment.

"It's very, very special. I'm pleased," he said. "At this point any (major) is great. I don't care which one it is. As Tom Brady always says, your favorite Super Bowl is your next one. And that's what my favorite major is. And at this moment, it's definitely (the Wannamaker Trophy). Yeah, I'm looking forward to talking to my grandma. I'm sure she was watching. I know somewhere up there, Grandpa was definitely watching today and pulling for me. It's very, very cool to be able to share this moment with my family."

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