Watch: Justin Thomas' Ridiculous Bunker Shot Helps Lead Him to First WGC Title
In golf, the difference between success and failure isn’t what happens when everything goes right.
After all, if your tee shot lands on the fairway and your approach shot on the green, even if you’re mediocre with the flat stick, you’ll card enough birdies to make a lot of money.
It’s what happens when your tee shot lands in a fairway bunker with an awkward lie that no sensible player would dare play aggressively that the champions get separated from the also-rans.
Like Justin Thomas, who won the Bridgestone Invitational Sunday after a final-round 69 left him 15 under for the tournament and four strokes clear of second-place Kyle Stanley.
His final round was a fairly pedestrian affair; he had two birdies, one bogey, and 15 pars.
But the best of the lot was this bunker shot.
Tree trails 😍
JT saved par from here. pic.twitter.com/jZWfKj1xC9
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 5, 2018
He hooked that ball over the trees and right onto the front fringe of the green at the first hole like he was playing a video game.
From there, it was a pitch-and-putt on his third and fourth shots to save par.
As one commenter pointed out, this would’ve been a much easier shot had Thomas been left-handed and able to stand level with the ball rather than bracing himself on an uphill position, but you play the course the way it’s given to you, and that just amped up the wow factor.
https://twitter.com/PieceofEight1/status/1026189057058058246
The even wilder thing about Thomas’ final round? It wasn’t the only shot he hit that was a borderline miracle.
On the 11th hole, he badly missed another tee shot and hit an approach that cleared the top of a forest on its way to the green.
After two rounds of this tournament, the leaders were at 11 under.
Thomas was the only player who finished the weekend at better than that score.
Put simply, when the course got tough, the No. 3 player in the world showed why he’s got that medal-stand ranking.
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