Justin Thomas won his 16th PGA Tour event at the RBC Heritage on Sunday evening.
It had been almost three years since his last victory, the 2022 PGA Championship, so he was understandably emotional.
He led the tournament after 18 and 36 holes, respectively, before Si Woo Kim overtook him on Saturday.
But the South Korean faded away in the final round, and it came down to Thomas and Andrew Novak for the win.
The American pair contested a playoff on the 18th hole at Harbour Town Golf Links, and Thomas’ birdie sealed the deal.
Justin Thomas gives verdict on Andrew Novak after RBC Heritage
Many golf fans won’t have known Novak’s name before the RBC Heritage, but he’s actually having an impressive season on the PGA Tour.
He finished joint third at the Valero Texas Open, before The Masters, and third also at the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year.
With his latest close call, the 30-year-old has now moved up to 34th in the Official World Golf Ranking, ahead of Tony Finau and Jordan Spieth.
Thomas shared his thoughts on Novak after their playoff battle, including a funny story about a practice round they played together.
He told the media: “No, but funny enough, Joe [Greiner] said in the playoff, ‘I’ve never been out with Andrew, have you?’ I was like, ‘I actually have.’ He’s like, ‘When was that?’
“I was like, ‘Well, I played a practice round at the Travelers a couple of years ago.’ Like I wanted to just play the back nine and I got to 10 tee and it was in the afternoon and I don’t want to be jumping in front of anybody or whatever it is, so it’s like him and Ben Griffin were playing, and I was like, ‘Can I just join you guys?’
“So I played the back nine with them, and they were having some kind of match, and all of a sudden they’re talking, and Andrew shot 59 that day. So I told Joe. I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve played with him once and he shot 59 at TPC River Highlands.’
“Yeah, he’s obviously very good. So yes, that was my experience, and you could see in the shot he hit into 18, when he gets going, he’s going.”
Justin Thomas says how nervous he was in RBC Heritage final round
Thomas had been knocking on the door this season, with runner-up finishes at The American Express and the Valspar Championship.
His game was clearly in excellent shape, and he just needed to put it all together over four rounds.
The two-time major champion finally did that at the RBC Heritage and revealed exactly how he was feeling afterwards.
He added: “Don’t get me wrong, I was nervous, but it was way different kind of nerves today. I felt very calm. I didn’t feel like I was going to win. I didn’t feel like I was going to lose. I was just playing. It’s just so hard to… unfortunately, so hard to get into that place mentally of just trusting and believing it and just kind of letting it happen.
“But I would say like Amex, I was so nervous before the day starting and it’s like the more you’re there the more comfortable I am with it, and then Tampa I was nervous but it was the first very comfortable nervous I felt while I was out there playing and just really kind of got into the whole situation and process and whatnot.
“Then today, I don’t know, I didn’t have… I was way, way more nervous on Friday than I was today. It was weird. I said that to Joe. I said, ‘I feel like this is a Sunday. I’m playing for something today, to win the tournament or not.’ Very clearly, it obviously was not the case. Just like everything else, you feel different every day. Fortunately, it felt great today.”
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
