Dell Technologies Championship: Round 4 scores, report and reaction as Justin Thomas claims title
US PGA champion Justin Thomas added the Dell Technologies Championship to his collection after a thrilling final round.
Final leaderboard
-17 Justin Thomas
-14 Jordan Spieth
-13 Marc Leishman
-12 Paul Casey, Jon Rahm
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Round four report
Justin Thomas claimed his fifth title of a breakthrough season as he stormed to victory in the Dell Technologies Championship.
The American, who last month won his first major championship at the US PGA, carded a final-round 66 to fend off Jordan Spieth at TPC Boston, ultimately winning by a convincing margin.
Playing alongside Thomas, Australia's Marc Leishman went out in 30 to move two clear of the field, but bogeys at holes 10, 11 and 12 stalled his progress as Spieth took over.
However, three mistakes over the closing seven holes proved costly for Spieth, who again had to settle for second place after his play-off defeat to Dustin Johnson a week earlier.
Thomas, on the other hand, bounced back from a bogey at the 11th with birdies at 13 and 15, and when he tapped in for par at 17 was able to stride to the final tee two shots clear.
Soon after, Spieth completed a disappointing run by taking six at the par-five closer, while Leishman bogeyed both 17 and 18 to fall to third place.
Thomas was able to miss a short birdie putt at the final hole and still win by three.
You can back him at 25/1 with Sky Bet to win next year's US Masters while he's a 28/1 shot for the US Open, 40/1 for the Open and 28/1 to retain his US PGA Championship title.
"I'm excited," said Thomas, who became the youngest player to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour on his way to winning back-to-back events in Hawaii in January and set a tournament record for lowest score in relation to par with a nine-under 63 in the third round of the US Open at Erin Hills.
"It was just a really, really patient hard-fought week. It feels good any time you can get it done, but especially in a play-off event."
The win leaves Thomas just 27 points behind Spieth in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top five entering the Tour Championship in Atlanta knowing that victory at East Lake would also guarantee them the overall title and USD10million bonus.
The top 70 players in the standings will contest next week's BMW Championship in Illinois, with the top 30 qualifying for the Tour Championship.
"I'm in a lot better shape now obviously for the FedEx Cup but I'm excited to have a week off and get some rest," Thomas told Sky Sports.
"These (last) two weeks really felt like a long two weeks, they felt like three or four - a lot of travelling in between. I'm a little tired and excited to sleep in my own bed tonight."
Spieth, who lost a play-off to Dustin Johnson in the first play-off event, told reporters: "Obviously it was a dream start but you're not going to keep pace and shoot 54, at some point you have to recognise the difficult holes are coming up and honestly it was just a difference of my long irons got off.
"I had three five-irons out of four holes on the back nine and didn't hit the green with any of them. When that happened I dropped two shots on those holes and ultimately that was the difference maker."
Final round collated scores
(USA unless stated, par 71):
267 Justin Thomas 71 67 63 66
270 Jordan Spieth 72 65 66 67
271 Marc Leishman (Aus) 67 69 65 70
272 Jon Rahm (Spa) 67 66 71 68, Paul Casey (Eng) 70 65 67 70
273 Phil Mickelson 69 67 69 68, Kevin Na 68 69 70 66, Pat Perez 72 67 67 67, Patrick Reed 71 67 69 66
274 Justin Rose (Eng) 72 65 69 68, Bill Haas 71 70 68 65
275 Stewart Cink 71 68 68 68
276 Hudson Swafford 69 68 70 69, Adam Hadwin (Can) 70 65 68 73, Patrick Cantlay 69 68 68 71, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 68 71 67, Rickie Fowler 69 71 66 70
277 Dustin Johnson 66 72 66 73, Brooks Koepka 74 67 68 68, Gary Woodland 72 71 67 67, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 72 68 72 65
278 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 70 71 71 66
279 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 72 71 70 66, Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 73 69 66
280 Jason Day (Aus) 75 69 70 66, Grayson Murray 68 68 67 77, Kyle Stanley 67 68 73 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 75 69 69 67, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 64 69 73
281 Lucas Glover 71 69 70 71, Bryson DeChambeau 69 67 72 73, Cody Gribble 72 70 68 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 69 74 69, William McGirt 70 74 69 68
282 Keegan Bradley 76 68 69 69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 73 75 67, Sung Kang (Kor) 71 74 71 66, Kevin Chappell 72 70 69 71, Kevin Streelman 70 65 74 73
283 Russell Henley 70 69 70 74, Morgan Hoffmann 75 64 74 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 74 70 70 69, Kevin Tway 71 74 72 66, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 71 70 72 70, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 68 73 73 69, Jamie Lovemark 73 70 73 67
284 Bud Cauley 72 71 68 73, Luke List 68 76 71 69, Chris Kirk 70 68 76 70, Charley Hoffman 72 71 73 68, Harold Varner III 77 67 73 67, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tpe) 69 72 74 69
285 Jason Kokrak 72 73 69 71, Xander Schauffele 69 74 72 70, Kevin Kisner 72 70 73 70
286 Brendan Steele 69 70 78 69, Zach Johnson 77 68 69 72, Matt Kuchar 72 70 71 73, Nick Taylor (Can) 72 72 70 72, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 72 70 73 71
287 Daniel Berger 77 68 70 72, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75 70 71 71, Russell Knox (Sco) 72 72 72 71, Chez Reavie 72 72 70 73
288 Tony Finau 69 71 77 71, Scott Brown 74 65 70 79, Brian Harman 68 72 74 74, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 73 70 74 71
289 Jason Dufner 68 75 69 77, Wesley Bryan 76 69 72 72, Bubba Watson 75 70 71 73, Jim Herman 75 68 74 72
290 Patrick Rodgers 74 71 73 72, Robert Streb 73 72 74 71
291 James Hahn 76 68 76 71, J.J. Spaun 72 71 74 74, Graham DeLaet (Can) 72 69 80 70, Webb Simpson 72 70 76 73
294 Rod Pampling (Aus) 72 73 75 74
Round three report
US PGA champion Justin Thomas and Australia's Marc Leishman share the lead after day three of the Dell Technologies Championship, where a show of petulance proved costly for Sergio Garcia.
Garcia slammed his putter into a sprinkler head after badly misjudging an eagle attempt on the short par-four fourth at TPC Boston, altering the loft and lie of the club.
Under Rule 4-3b, Garcia was not allowed to use it again for the rest of the round, although the Masters champion did at least hole his birdie putt from 13 feet with a fairway wood.
But after using either his driver or a long iron on the greens on the remaining 14 holes, Garcia struggled to a four-over-par 75 which ended in miserable fashion when a dreaded shank led to a double-bogey seven on the last.
It is not the first time this season Garcia has caused himself problems by losing his temper, the world number seven injuring his shoulder after lashing out at a gorse bush on the fourth hole at Royal Birkdale during this year's Open Championship.
At two over par, Garcia was 14 shots behind Thomas and Leishman, who shot superb rounds of 63 and 65 respectively despite the wet and windy conditions.
England's Paul Casey was a shot off the lead after a 67, with Open champion Jordan Spieth, Grayson Murray and Adam Hadwin a shot further back on 10 under.
Dell Technologies Championship: Sky Bet odds
Casey, who held a three-shot lead after 54 holes in this event last year but struggled to a closing 73 and was overhauled by Rory McIlroy, carded five birdies and a solitary bogey in his 67.
Thomas recorded eight birdies in a flawless round, including one from 50 feet on the 12th after deliberately hitting his tee-shot onto the adjacent 13th fairway in order to avoid the controversial new bunkers in the middle of the 12th fairway.
The 24-year-old became the youngest player to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour on his way to winning back-to-back events in Hawaii in January, while he set a tournament record for lowest score in relation to par with a nine-under 63 in the third round of the US Open at Erin Hills.
"You can't really compare them, they are so, so different rounds, but in terms of ball-striking and overall control of my game that was up there with the best I've had all year," Thomas told Sky Sports.
"I drove it better than I have probably any round this year, hit some great irons, I was putting well - it was overall a great day."
Playing alongside Thomas, world number one Dustin Johnson carded a 66 to finish nine under par alongside halfway leader Jon Rahm, with Phil Mickelson a shot further back following a 69.
Olympic champion Justin Rose (80/1) and Rickie Fowler (50/1) are five shots off the pace after rounds of 69 and 66 respectively.
PRICE BOOST: Dustin Johnson or Jordan Spieth to win is 7/2 from 5/2 with Sky Bet!
Round two report
Spain's Jon Rahm holds a two-shot halfway lead as defending champion Rory McIlroy missed the cut in the Dell Technologies Championship.
Rahm carded six birdies and an eagle at TPC Boston to add a second round of 66 to his opening 67 and finish nine under par, two ahead of a group of four players - American duo Kyle Stanley and Kevin Streelman, England's Paul Casey and Canada's Adam Hadwin.
World number five Rahm, having started on the back nine, was two over through eight holes when he rolled in a 12-footer for eagle on the 18th, before making five birdies on the way in. His odds for victory were duly cut to 5/2 by Sky Bet.
"Once that happened on 18, I felt like everything clicked and I just started flushing everything and ended up with the results I did," he told PGA Tour Live.
Asked about his prospects of converting his lead into a second PGA Tour title, the 22-year-old added: "It's all going to start with the weather - if we have a day like today we're going to have to play good golf to keep that lead.
"If we have bad weather it's going to be a struggle to stay on the score that we're on."
Casey - now the 13/2 second favourite - held a three-shot lead after 54 holes in this event last year, but struggled to a closing 73 and was overhauled by McIlroy, whose victory after a final round of 65 gave him the springboard to go on and win the overall FedEx Cup title.
The 40-year-old Englishman went on to finish second in the BMW Championship the following week and fourth in the Tour Championship in Atlanta, where McIlroy defeated Ryan Moore and Kevin Chappell in a play-off.
McIlroy has not tasted victory since after an injury-plagued season and faces a battle simply to qualify for the season-ending tournament at East Lake after a second round of 74 left him four over par.
That was one shot outside the cut and an early exit saw the four-time major winner drop to 50th in the FedEx Cup standings, with only the top 30 after the BMW Championship on September 17 qualifying for the Tour Championship.
In the pack hunting Rahm at the top of the leaderboard, American trio Phil Mickelson, Grayson Murray, Bryson DeChambeau and Australian Marc Leishman were another shot back on six under, Mickelson shooting 67 and Murray carding a second consecutive 68 which included a hole-in-one on the eighth, his penultimate hole of the day.
Round one report
Five days after winning his fourth tournament of the season, Dustin Johnson simply carried on where he left off as Rory McIlroy made a stuttering start to his defence of the Dell Technologies Championship.
Johnson overturned a five-shot deficit in the final round before beating Open champion Jordan Spieth in a play-off in the Northern Trust Open on Sunday, the first of four FedEx Cup play-off events.
And the 33-year-old again looked the man to beat at TPC Boston after carding five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in an opening 66 to claim the lead on five under par.
He's now 2/1 favourite with Sky Bet although Sergio Garcia, who was tipped up by our golf expert Ben Coley at 55/1 in his pre-event preview, is one of the biggest movers in the betting after a first-round 67 and he can now be backed at 10/1.
Starting on the back nine, Johnson holed from 35 feet for birdie on the 10th and just four feet on the 13th, before a careless three-putt on the next.
The former US Open champion bounced back with a birdie on the 15th and hit the pin with his tee shot on the 16th, although he was unable to convert from seven feet for birdie.
A stunning six-iron approach from 220 yards to four feet set up an eagle on the par-five 18th, although a wayward iron off the tee on the first bounced off a cart path and into a hazard, leading to a second bogey of the day.
Undeterred, Johnson promptly birdied the second and fourth and parred his remaining five holes to finish a shot ahead Masters champion Garcia, his fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm, Australia's Marc Leishman and American Kyle Stanley.
Johnson, who won three tournaments in succession earlier this season before suffering a back injury which forced him to withdraw from the Masters, told PGA Tour Radio: "I drove it well and that's a big key, especially on difficult days with the wind conditions.
"It's blowing pretty good out there. If you can be in the fairway where you can control the spin on the golf ball, it's a big advantage.
"I had one little hiccup on 14, three-putting from about 20 feet - I don't even know what I was thinking. I was so focused on the line I completely forgot about the speed and hit it about 10 feet by.
"But the golf game is in good form right now, I'm feeling good, I've got a lot of confidence and I'm looking forward to the rest of this week."
Garcia looked on course to overtake Johnson when he raced to the turn in 31, but eventually had to settle for a 67 which meant a US$12,000 donation to the flood relief efforts in Texas.
The world number seven has pledged to donate US$2,000 for every birdie and US$5,000 for every eagle he makes during the play-offs.
Defending champion McIlroy (28/1), who also won this event in 2012, made an excellent start with birdies on the fifth and sixth, the latter coming from 50 feet.
However, the four-time major winner then three-putted the seventh and amazingly four-putted the 11th from just 11 feet, before dropping another shot on the 15th.
McIlroy at least birdied the par-five 18th to end the day on one over par alongside Spieth, who recovered from playing his first seven holes in three over with a back nine of 34, as well as Scotland's Russell Knox.