McIlroy wins RBC Canadian Open in dominating fashion

Justin Thomas rebounded from a sloppy 72nd-hole bogey to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions in a three-man playoff. It was his second win of the season and third in his last six PGA TOUR starts. Thomas, the 2017 FedExCup champion, now leads this season’s standings by 175 points. Thomas’ 12th win also put him in some impressive company. Here’s a closer look at what it means. 1. LEGENDARY COMPANY: Thomas is just the third player in the past 60 years to win 12 times before turning 27. The other two? Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Woods won 34 times before turning 27, while Nicklaus won 20 times. 2. TOP OF THE CLASS: Thomas’ 12 wins also are the most among players currently under the age of 30. Before this week, he was tied atop that list with Jordan Spieth. The two players have been linked since their days in junior golf. They’re the two biggest names from the Class of 2011. Spieth once led Thomas, 8-1, in the wins department. It just shows how unpredictable this game can be. While Spieth won his first title as a teenager in 2013, Thomas didn’t join the TOUR until the 2014-15 season. He turned pro after the 2013 Walker Cup and spent a season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Thomas’ 12 wins since 2014-15 are tied with Dustin Johnson for the most on TOUR in that span. Eleven of Thomas’ wins have come since the start of the 2016-17 season. That’s the most on TOUR by a good margin. MOST WINS SINCE START OF 2016-17 3. IRONS ON FIRE: Before his closing bogey, Thomas’ iron play was the talk of the Sentry’s final round. A windy Plantation Course, with its sweeping slopes, was the perfect canvas for Thomas to display his artistry with his irons. He was altering his swing speed and trajectories to meet Kapalua’s unique demands. As a testament to his iron play, Thomas’ four birdies on the 12 par-3s last week were two more than anyone else in the field. Twelve of the 34 players in the field didn’t make a birdie on a par-3 all week. He birdied two par-3s on Sunday alone, the eighth and 11th holes. They were the bookends on a run of four consecutive birdies that made it look like Thomas had the tournament under control. He hit his tee shot on the 198-yard eighth hole to 12 feet. The field’s average proximity on that hole in the final round was 37 feet. Thomas was the only player to hit his tee shot within 10 feet on the 162-yard 11th. The short par-3 was actually Sunday’s hardest hole. He hit it to 5 feet, 6 inches to make just the second birdie of the day on that hole. The hole played to a 3.47 scoring average Sunday. Thomas led the field in fairway proximity from both 125-150 yards and 150-175 yards last week. THOMAS’ FAIRWAY PROXIMITY 4. GAINING GROUND: Thomas has been one of the best iron players on TOUR since the 2017 season, trailing only Henrik Stenson in Strokes Gained: Approach per round over that span (minimum 200 measured rounds). BEST SG: APPROACH PER ROUND SINCE 2017 5. FRIGHTENING FINISH: Kapalua’s par-5 18th hole is a birdie opportunity, but Thomas bogeyed it twice last week. He drove into the penalty area in the second round, then hooked his 3-wood into the high grass on Sunday. He is the first person to win at Kapalua with two scores of bogey (or worse) on the 18th hole in the week of his win. The Sentry Tournament of Champions has been held at Kapalua since 1999. Only one other player (Stuart Appleby, 2006) has won with a bogey (or worse) on 18 in the week of his win. OVER-PAR SCORES ON 18 BY SENTRY WINNERS

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Since 1947 the world of professional golf has meshed with the captains of industry, entertainment and sport at Pebble Beach Golf Links. The tradition continues in the centennial year of the host course before the U.S. Open arrives in June. This is the final multi-course event of the season as Spyglass Hill Golf Club and Monterrey Peninsula Country Club will help host the field of 156 professionals and their amateur partners over the first three rounds. On the line this week is a purse of $7.6 million with the winner pocketing $1.368 million and 500 FedExCup points. Need Course Info? Check Rob Bolton’s Power Rankings, The First Look and Course Preview. The Landlord With a win this year Phil Mickelson will join the “Prince of Pebble” Mark O’Meara with five titles. The lefty picked up his last winner’s check in 2012 but has finished T2 in both 2018 and 2016. His 10 top-10 finishes are the most in the field. Recent Winners 2018 Ted Potter, Jr. (MC, T16 and MC): All he had to do to take home the big trophy was beat Dustin Johnson heads-up in the final group on Sunday. He did just that and by three comfortable shots. Notable: Potter signed for 61 in Round 3 at MPCC and had a career-best 24 birdies for the week. 2017 Jordan Spieth (T7 2015 and T4 2014): In less than perfect conditions, Spieth torched Spyglass Hill for 65 in Round 2 and followed that with 65 on Pebble Beach in Round 3 and led by six. He only squared four bogeys on the week on just one at Pebble Beach. Notable: His worst payday in six starts is T22. His T4 in 2014 included a 78. 2016 Vaughn Taylor (T10 2015; seven of 11 cuts made): Beginning the final round six shots adrift of Mickelson, his brilliant 65, including an inward 31, stole the show and the trophy. Notable: As with the last four winners from 2018 to 2015, Taylor followed suit by finishing first or second in Par-4 scoring (T2). Key stat leaders Golfers inside the top 25-ish in each statistic on the 2017-18 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Finished inside the top 10 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am since 2010. Par-4 Scoring:  1  *Dustin Johnson  6  *Jordan Spieth 11 *Kevin Streelman (6th last year) 11 *Jason Day 11 Tony Finau (second appearance) 17 Joel Dahmen 18 *Chez Reavie 20 Matt Kuchar 23 Tommy Fleetwood (first appearance) 24 Johnson Wagner 24 *Hunter Mahan Putting: Birdie-or-Better Conversion Percentage  1  *Dustin Johnson  2  *Phil Mickelson  4  *Jason Day  8  *Grayson Murray  9  Tommy Fleetwood 11 Brandon Harkins 15 Sam Saunders 18 Tony Finau 19 Ryan Palmer 22 *Brian Gay 26 *Jordan Spieth Scrambling  2  Johnson Wagner  6  Alex Cejka  9  Matt Kuchar 11 Joel Dahmen 13 *Brian Gay 16 Ben Crane 18 *Patrick Reed 21 *Jim Furyk 23 *Dustin Johnson 25 *Jason Day 27 *Chez Reavie Levels of Confidence We’ve selected a few players below that should be fairly confident going into this week. Guest List Annuals Dustin Johnson won the weather-shortened event in 2009 defended his title the following year to join Mark O’Meara (1989-90) as the most recent to do so. Of his eight top-10 finishes in 10 weekends, five are on the podium and the worst is T7. … Brandt Snedeker also has two titles here and holds the tournament record of 22-under in 2015. Since his first win in 2013 he’s cashed in four of five including solo fourth in 2017. … Jason Day qualifies as my “Rickie Fowler” selection this week. He’s never MC in nine tries but hasn’t grabbed the trophy yet; T6 or better in four of his last six. … Chez Reavie, T2 last year in his ninth visit, brings the heat again this year after T4 at WMPO.  Regional Specialists 2014 champ Jimmy Walker has bagged four other top-10 paychecks in his last eight starts including T8 last year. … Patrick Reed broke a streak of five of T29 or better with MC last year. … Pat Perez has only missed twice in 16 tries at Pebble Beach. … J.B. Holmes is 10 from 12 with six top-25 finishes including a pair inside the top 10. … Nick Watney pushed to solo second in 2015, one of his 11 paychecks from 15 starts. … Patrick Cantlay cashed T9 as an amateur here in 2013 and hasn’t missed the last two seasons in his other two trips. Long Shots Jim Furyk (18 of 20) posted his last top 10 in 2015 (T7). … Chesson Hadley chased T10 in 2014 with another in 2015 and has only missed once in four trips. … Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open here and added T7 in 2014. … Matt Jones (9 of 11) has picked up five in the top 25 and a pair of those have gone for top-10 cash also. Odds and Ends Old and in the Way: Over the last four seasons just Daniel Berger (T10, 2015) and Mackenzie Hughes (T10, 2017) are the only rookies to crack the top 10. With all three courses playing under 7,000 yards it opens up the field, as shown above, to the experienced guy who doesn’t need to hit it 330 yards to compete.

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