Power Rankings: Valspar Championship

Justin Thomas looks unbeatable for the first 15 holes, but the wind seems to catch up to him (as it did everyone else) as he struggles over the final three. When it counts, though, and under the most extreme pressure, he birdies the 18th hole twice in three tries in the playoff, dusting off first Patrick Reed and then defending champion Xander Schauffele. With his 12th PGA TOUR win, Thomas moves into pole position in the FedExCup. He also slides into third place behind only Tiger Woods (34) and Jack Nicklaus (20) for most wins before age 27 over the last 60 years. Oh, and he’s the first TOUR winner of the new decade. Welcome to the Monday Finish. THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS 1. Thomas regrouped. The ending was topsy-turvy, with first Thomas and then Schauffele failing to secure the win after having one hand on the trophy on the 18th hole in regulation. The first unforced error was Thomas’ crazy second shot that wound up in the penalty area, leading to a bogey 6. He later called the hole “just a disaster.� Then came Schauffele’s inability to two-putt from roughly 35 feet, his first effort trickling some seven feet past the pin. “I should have won the tournament. I know it. Everyone knows it.� Out came Patrick Reed to join them in a playoff, but it was Thomas who regrouped better than either of the other two, making two birdies in the three times he was forced to play the 18th in overtime. 2. He was a mid-round superstar. How good were Thomas’ four straight birdies from holes 8-11 at windy Kapalua as he took control of the tournament? His tee shot at the par-3 11th was the closest to the pin all day, and he was the only one to even get within 10 feet. But maybe it’s best to let playing partner Xander Schauffele put the winner’s mid-round hot streak in context. “It was windy,� Schauffele said. “That stretch of holes J.T. went 4- or 5-under, I’d like to see anyone else try it. He was hitting ridiculous shots, making good putts in the wind…�  3. He is Mr. Hawaii. “For some reason I was supposed to win this week,� Thomas said. Maybe that reason is he is imminently comfortable playing in Hawaii, where since 2015 he is 131 under par in the two official TOUR events there. Next best: Jimmy Walker at 93 under. Thomas was a ball-striking machine at Kapalua, ranking second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, SG: Approach-the-Green, and Proximity to the Hole. He was third in Greens in Regulation. OBSERVATIONS  Wind golf is hard. Of his three-putt on the last hole of regulation, Schauffele said, “I got gusted.� What he meant was his first effort, from about 35 feet, seemed to get blown about seven feet past the hole, leaving a tricky comebacker, which he missed. “I guess I’ll have to work on some wind-putting,� he said. He wasn’t the only one. Patrick Reed also used the “gusted� term in his post-round remarks. “Unfortunately I had two putts really to close it, and one of them got gusted on,� Reed said, “and then this last one, with the wind and the break, just got me again.� Thomas, Spieth neck and neck. Friends, competitors and co-valedictorians for the Class of 2011, Thomas and Spieth have drawn several comparisons. Here are two more: With his 12th win, Thomas takes a slim lead over Spieth (11), who once enjoyed a sizeable lead. Also, Thomas made seven birdies in the final round, which was his 54th round with seven or more birdies on TOUR since 2015. He is second only to, yes, Spieth (55).   QUOTEBOARD “I know it’s hard, but I made it about five times as hard as it needed to be.� – Justin Thomas, after prevailing despite a bogey 6 on the last hole of regulation. “Just sort of a rookie move trying to close out a tournament.� – Xander Schauffele on his three-putt at the 72nd hole to fall into a playoff with Thomas and Reed. “I was 8 under through 21 holes, so it was great golf as a whole.� – Patrick Reed (66, T2), who lost to Thomas on the third hole of the playoff.  SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

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Some players splurge on a car when they win their first PGA TOUR event. Others might take an exotic trip or pay off a mortgage or hire an architect to design their dream home. Not Chris Kirk, though. He bought a satin black 1886 Steinway baby grand piano when he won the Viking Classic back in 2011. Kirk’s wife, Tahnee, found the vintage piano one day when she was shopping with her mother in Brunswick, Georgia. She knew Chris, who had been teaching himself to play on an electronic keyboard, was interested in buying the real thing. So, Tahnee and her mom went inside the piano store. It was the first one she saw, and the piano was nothing short of stunning. “It obviously wasn’t cheap,â€� Kirk recalls. “So just kind of jokingly, I was like, ‘well, if I win a tournament soon, I’ll go buy it.’ And it was within a week or two after that I won in Jackson and went and got it. So, it was pretty crazy how it all happened. “It’s definitely a centerpiece at our house now and hopefully something that will be in my family for another 125 years, or however long since it was made.â€� The piano has been painstakingly restored. The frame, sound board and pedals are all original while the strings and gleaming ivory keys are new. “It plays as good as it looks,â€� Kirk says. “You can see the old patents and dates and stuff, all on the metal frame. … It’s got a period correct Steinway logo on the face above the keys. All the screws and bolts and everything is all original. “It’s pretty cool.â€� Around the time Kirk turned pro in 2007, he had started learning to play a keyboard. He taught himself by watching tutorials on YouTube — rewinding the video time after time until he got the music just right. “I’m not any good,â€� Kirk says. “I would love to be a better player one day. I have a handful of songs that I can sit down and play. It’s enough to entertain me anyways.â€� The Journey classic, “Don’t Stop Believing,â€� is always a crowd-pleaser. Not that Kirk is one to play in front of his friends very often, though. “I mean, maybe every now and then if somebody gets the right amount of beer in me,â€� Kirk says with a grin. “Usually not, no.â€� Another one of the dozen or so songs the four-time PGA TOUR champ can play is “This Year’s Love.â€� He and Tahnee danced to the David Gray classic at their wedding. “I’ve played that one a lot, I think to the point where my wife is tired of the song that was our first dance,â€� Kirk says. Kirk comes from a musical – and very creative — family. His older brother Mason played guitar while he and his younger brother Connor were drummers. Kirk was never in a band but he did perform a drum riff he wrote in a talent show once. “We always were playing music and around it a lot,â€� Kirk recalls. “I don’t have a drum set at my house (anymore). I’ve been threatening my wife, telling her that I’m going to get one again, but she is resisting a little bit. So, we’ll see.â€� Kirk’s brothers are accomplished artists, as well. Connor, whose now lives in Japan, studied print making at the Savannah College of Art and Design. And Mason, who once worked in graphic design and is now a rep for Bobby Jones Apparel, went to the Art Institute of Atlanta. So what about Kirk? Does he have any artistic abilities? To hear him tell it, not so much. He says he was only “remotely competentâ€� at making pottery. “I took art class every semester of high school and was terrible at all that,â€� he says. “I love the part of your brain that is needed to do those types of things. I’ve never been good at any of it, music or the art stuff. But I just love it. “I think it’s very good for you. And so I’ll definitely be encouraging (my kids) to try anything and everything when it comes to music and art.â€� Kirk and Tahnee have three children, the youngest of whom was born in August. But Sawyer, who is 5, and Foster, who turns 4 next month, enjoy watching their dad play the piano. “Every now and then they want to actually listen to me play something,â€� Kirk says. “Most of the time, they want to climb up there and bang on the keys a little bit. They know they are not allowed to hit them very hard. “And then my youngest son, Foster, he will stick his finger out and wait for me to take it and play. Obviously, you can’t play much of a song with one finger, but ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb,’ or something like that.â€� After all, musicians have to start somewhere. Right?

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Phil Mickelson is using multiple drivers at the Memorial — one to “hit bombs” ala Bubba Watson, and another to hit “cute little cuts” off the tee at Muirfield.

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