Some headlines will be about how Tiger went another week without winning a tournament, but all credit goes to Justin Thomas with his victory in Akron this weekend. Thomas captured the The Bridgestone Invitational and World Golf Classic title earning his ninth career victory as a professional golfer. Oh and guess what - he is $1,700,000 richer. Thomas' last win came in February at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, FL.
JT finished -15 (65, 64, 67, 69) four shots ahead of the closest competitor. He outplayed some big names on Saturday and Sunday including the likes of Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Jason Day. JT heads into next week's PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club as the defending champion - the victory last year catapulted Thomas into the conversation with other young major champions such as Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.
The PGA TOUR reported earlier this week that Thomas had a tough talk with his team. Coming off a missed cut at the Open Championship, Thomas had been disappointed with his most recent results.
“We had a big talk on Tuesday just to make sure everybody on the team was doing what they needed to do for us to play our best. That's myself included. I asked them if I need to practice anything better… if they didn't see maybe hard enough effort from me, if my attitude wasn't as good as it could be.
"But also I said the same to my dad. I'm like, hey, dad, I need you to do some of these things, and Jimmy, I need you to step in a little bit more.”
Seems like the 'tough team talk' led everyone on Team Thomas to raise their level. We will look to a red hot Thomas to continue his solid play as he tries to repeat at the PGA Championship later this week.