Justin Thomas, the 2017 PGA Champion, erased a seven-shot deficit and won a 3-hole aggregate score playoff over Will Zalatoris on Sunday at Southern Hills to collect his second Wanamaker Trophy.
He shot 67-67-74-67 for a 5-under-total. He then defeated Zalatoris by one stroke in a three-hole playoff.
Thomas tied John Mahaffey for the biggest comeback in PGA Championship history. Mahaffey came back from the same deficit in 1978 to win at Oakmont.
Thomas, 29, shot consecutive 67s in the first two rounds and appeared on cruise control. But a third-round 74 dropped him back considerably and he was well off the pace by the end of Saturday.
The son PGA Member Mike Thomas, who is his PGA Coach, Justin birdied the par-4 ninth hole on Sunday to turn at even-par. He rattled off consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th holes to creep closer and closer to leader Mito Pereira.
When he made birdie on the par-4 17th hole, Thomas was all of a sudden just a shot off the lead. Pereira narrowly missed a birdie on the 17th hole, before making a double bogey on the par 4 18th and finishing a stroke behind Thomas and Zalatoris.
In the playoff, both Thomas and Zalatoris birdied the par-5 13th. On the short par-4 17th, Thomas drove the green and two-putted for birdie. Zalatoris came up short of the green with his drive and failed to get up-and-down for birdie. On No. 18, both players hit the green on their approach shots and made par.
Justin Thomas raises the Wanamaker Trophy as two-time PGA Champion.@JustinThomas34 | #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/Oi9MpTMbZp
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 22, 2022
