HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA | The cannon shot thundered across Calibogue Sound an instant after Justin Thomas let out his own roar late Sunday afternoon when his 21-foot birdie putt melted into the cup to beat Andrew Novak on the first extra hole of the RBC Heritage.
The boats bobbing on the sound hit their horns as they always do for the Heritage champion and all the noise, much of it spilling out of the double-decker hospitality chalets surrounding the 18th green on Easter Sunday, had the sound and feel of more than a champion’s coronation.
While Novak, who grew up less than two hours up the road in the Charleston area, had his own cadre of encouraging fans, Thomas’ victory stamped a tartan-plaid end to a nearly three-year winless streak for the two-time major champion.
For a while now, Thomas has been comfortable in the belief he had found what had gone missing in his game but he lacked that frameable moment.
Until Sunday in a spot made for framing.
“I think it was the last thing missing, if you will. I don’t know. It’s hard to say because obviously careers are so long and there’s so much up and down and lots going on that you never know what point of your career you’re at until it’s over,” Thomas said.
“At least for me, I felt like it was the last thing that I needed to do for my own well-being.”
It’s not as if the first 15 PGA Tour wins came easily but as the weeks turned to months and months turned to years after his 2022 PGA Championship victory at Southern Hills, the narrative was as familiar as an eventual end to it seemed inevitable.
Thomas struggled in 2023, failing to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, but there was progress last year. It carried over to this year when Thomas had chances to win before Sunday, including at the Valspar Championship, where he lost a late lead.
He left Tampa in March saying he felt more good than bad despite not finishing the job and it helped him Sunday when Harbour Town’s greens got firm and fiery and Novak forced the issue. Thomas putted beautifully, holing a string of momentum-saving par putts on the front nine then center-cutting the winner on the first extra hole.
“I think there’s definitely some relief in there, but when the ball went in, it was pure joy. I just was so happy. I couldn’t stop smiling.”
Justin Thomas
Moments earlier, Thomas had seen his wife, Jillian, and their baby daughter, Molly, watching from behind the 18th green. Feeling a rush of emotion, Thomas intentionally looked away to stay locked in on the opportunity at hand.
“It’s hard to not start thinking about what could be when I see them, so that’s where I had to kind of put my head down and take a deep breath because it is, that’s when I feel like I can get into I want this so bad for us,” Thomas said.
On Thursday, Thomas tied the course record with a 10-under-par 61 then strangely found himself feeling nervous on Friday. With new caddie Joe Greiner on his bag after his regular caddie Matt Minister went down with a back injury before the Masters, Thomas found an instant rapport with his new companion.
As Sunday played out, Greiner kept reminding Thomas to hit fairways and greens and let his putting stroke take it from there.
During his offseason, Thomas called Xander Schauffele for a putting lesson and the results have been apparent.
“The more I was talking [to Schauffele] I’m like, I don’t do any of the things that I used to do in my best putting years. In 2017-18, I was very, very regimented of the things that I did,” Thomas said.
“How he said it is I had a home base and I had no home base. I had things that I did, but it was a very vague bag of things and there was no consistency to it. I feel like I used to have a very good home base of fundamentals and things that I did.”
It was, in a sense, like the work Thomas did rebuilding his swing, eliminating the wrinkles that had worked their way into a motion that had him atop the world for a time. He found a path forward, stuck to it and didn’t allow the burden of not winning sway him.
“I think the hard part about it is it’s just really hard to win. I feel like I’ve been playing well enough to win for a couple years, but just because you feel that way and you are, obviously that doesn’t mean that you’re going to,” Thomas said.
“I feel like I was putting more pressure on myself even last year to win than I was this year, and I just feel like my game is in such a better place and in a good spot to where I’m just really trying as hard as I can to get myself in a place mentally of just trusting and playing and just committing to what I’m doing and having the belief that it’s going to be good enough the more often I get myself there, and I’ve done that a couple times this year and haven’t been able to close it out.”
Until Sunday.
After missing two putts on the 18th green that might have won him the tournament, all Novak could do at the end was watch the celebration.
“That’s a good birdie to make. It’s hard to beat,” Novak said.
When it was over, when the photos had been taken and Thomas fit comfortably into the red tartan jacket, he hopped into a cart to be whisked away from the 18th green.
From one of the homes bordering the famously photogenic hole, a sound system boomed out “Sweet Home Alabama” as Thomas and his family rode into the night.
“I think there’s definitely some relief in there, but when the ball went in, it was pure joy,” Thomas said.
“I just was so happy. I couldn’t stop smiling.”
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Top: Justin Thomas celebrates his first win since marrying Jillian Wisniewski and having a daughter, Molly.
JARED C. TILTON, GETTY IMAGES