Leishman maintains the lead at BMW

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INZAI CITY, Japan — Brendan Steele finished with four consecutive birdies and shot a 6-under 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the PGA TOUR’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. “Everybody says if you birdie 18, dinner tastes better,” Steele said. “But four in a row is definitely, really nice and feels good.” It was a happy return to the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, where Steele was the runner-up a year ago in the same tournament behind winner Hideki Matsuyama. “I love it here,” Steele said. “Loved the course last year — really happy to be back.” The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP is the only PGA TOUR event in Japan and has a purse of $11 million. There are no COVID-19 crowd-limit restrictions in place this year. “Nice for us to be able to get out of the hotel a little bit this year and enjoy the culture a little bit,” Steele said. “So I’ve enjoyed it a ton.” It was a big day for other Americans as well. Adam Schenk was a shot back after a 65 on a rainy day on the course on the outskirts of Tokyo. Sam Ryder, Matthew NeSmith, and Keegan Bradley were two back. Three more Americans were three behind: Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele, and Maverick McNealy. Defending champion Matsuyama, who won by five strokes a year ago, got off to a slow start before a home crowd with a 71.

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Justin Thomas had big plans. After winning THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, South Korea’s first-regular-season PGA TOUR event, on Sunday, Thomas planned to fly home to South Florida, his hard-won 500 FedExCup points safely tucked away in the overhead bin. He planned to sleep on the flight, and if he woke up, maybe study the trophy and learn how to write his name in Korean. Once home, he planned to get reacquainted with his couch, the TV remote control, and blessed inertia. “I’m so excited to not do anything,â€� Thomas said after outlasting Marc Leishman with a two-putt birdie at the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, the par-5 18th, where Leishman hit into the water going for the green in two. “I officially have nothing left in the tank at this moment.â€� Thomas picked up his seventh TOUR win, three of which have come in Asia. He shot a 9-under 63 in the first round, then played even-par golf from there in cool temperatures and high winds. His final round included a double-bogey at the par-5 third hole (“I just kept telling myself it was a bad golf swingâ€�) and a bogey at the par-3 17th. He birdied the 18th to force extra holes. Leishman was left to rue not making birdie on the first hole of the playoff. “You give one of the best players in the world a chance like that, he’s probably going to take it,â€� he said. If Thomas is excited “to not do anything,â€� that’s because he has done seemingly everything over the last 10 weeks. He has won (deep breath) the PGA Championship in Charlotte, N.C.; the Dell Technologies Championship in Boston; the FedExCup, thanks to his runner-up finish to Xander Schauffele at the TOUR Championship in Atlanta; the Presidents Cup in Jersey City, N.J., where he went 3-1-1; Player of the Year honors; and now THE CJ CUP. “Nothing like a late night golf sweat!â€� Smylie Kaufman tweeted, congratulating his spring break buddy Thomas. “You should keep playing golf Jt you are sneaky good at it.â€� Thomas will rise to a career-high third in the Official World Golf Ranking, behind only No. 1 Dustin Johnson and No. 2 Jordan Spieth. American golf has seldom been stronger, and there can be no doubting the identity of the hottest golfer on the planet: Thomas. His vast accomplishments (seven wins, one major, one FedExCup) are piling up like the national debt clock, inching him ever closer to Class of 2011 valedictorian Spieth (11 wins, three majors, one FedExCup). Last season Thomas became just the fourth player, after Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Spieth, to win five times, including a major, in a single season before the age of 25. That’s quite a list. Now consider that Spieth followed up his banner year with a quick victory in just his second start of the 2015-’16 season, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, and Thomas’ latest triumph comes in just his second start of the 2017-’18 season. See any parallels? A reality check reminds us that this was a 78-player field, and Thomas was the highest ranked among them. Johnson and Spieth were taking time off, their recent Twitter updates covering the gamut from paddle-boarding to charity golf to a college football game coin flip. Still, Leishman had won the recent BMW Championship and was coming off his best season, while the talented Cameron Smith (70, 8 under, one back) was seeking his first individual TOUR win. Anirban Lahiri was threatening, too, but went 4 over par for his last five holes (74, T5). In contrast to the steamy weather at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia the week before, Sunday’s high at Jeju Island was 63, and the wind reached 25 mph. Thomas hit a 377-yard drive at the 10th hole, and his 94-yard flip wedge nestled to a foot for a tap-in birdie. His 72 looked even better considering just one of the top 18 finishers (Pat Perez, 68, T5) broke 70. “The wind is so strong,â€� Thomas said, “and because of all the trees, it bounces around and swirls so much. Really the hardest thing, that people don’t understand, is putting. The gusts, when the wind picks up, when it dies, it literally makes a difference if you can make a putt or not.â€� Playing his ninth tournament in 11 weeks and admittedly bone-tired, Thomas credited his patience, the virtue he often points to when asked to explain his run. Nicklaus and Woods had it, Spieth learned from their examples, and now it’s Thomas’ turn. If you missed the exciting finish, going to bed Saturday night only to wake up and check THE CJ CUP results early Sunday, then Thomas’ sixth win in just over a year was the least surprising result. The great ones find a way.

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