Justin Thomas leads the way to East Lake after BMW Championship title

Justin Thomas holds off Patrick Cantlay to win BMW Championship by three shots for his first victory of the PGA Tour season and take the FedEx Cup lead

Justin Thomas saved his best golf of the season for when he needed it most.

Thomas, the former world No. 1, broke the tournament scoring record on his way to winning his 10th career PGA Tour title at the BMW Championship on Sunday. With the win, he takes the lead in the FedEx Cup standings into the season-ending Tour Championship next week at East Lake.

It wasn’t a promising start to the week for Thomas at Medinah. He stepped to the tee for his first round on Thursday after what he called the worst warmup session of his career. He then went ahead and broke the course record with a seven-under 65. Hideki Matsuyama would break the record the next day with 63, but that mark would also last just 24 hours.

Thomas began Saturday’s third round with five straight birdies and added two eagles on the back-nine, including a hole-out from the fairway on the 16th. He ended with an 11-under 61, building up a six-shot advantage heading into Sunday.

Thomas, though, got off to a shaky start with a bogey at the first. He began to turn things around at the par-five seventh, nearing holing his chip shot from the greenside rough and tapping in for his second birdie to make the turn in one-under. Patrick Cantlay, meanwhile, began to chip away at Thomas’ lead. Four straight birdies starting at the seventh brought the methodical Cantlay to within two shots.

Thomas responded at the 11th. His drive found the right rough, leaving him an unfavorable angle to the right-side pin location. Undaunted, he stuck his approach at the par-four to two feet and tapped in for birdie. At the 12th, evoking Sergio Garcia from 1999, he saved par from behind a tree, unleashing a big fist pump after rolling in a 14-footer.

After both birdied the par-three 13th, Cantlay’s last hope came at the short, driveable par-four 15th. His tee shot found the green, leaving him a 16-footer for eagle to get back to within two of Thomas. The eagle attempt, though, stayed out to the left, and after Thomas also made birdie after laying up, Cantlay’s chances were all but gone. Even with two closing birdies, an 18-footer at the 17th and 38-footer at the closing 18th, Cantlay had to settle for a second-place finish, three shots behind Thomas at 22-under.

Thomas ended the tournament right where he started, atop the leaderboard. He punctuated his impressive victory with a 14-footer for birdie at the 18th, finishing with a four-under round of 68. His 25-under total for the tournament is two shots lower than anyone had ever recorded in the 120-year history of this event, the former Western Open. It’s also the lowest score ever shot at a FedEx Cup playoff event since the competition began in 2007.

With the new FedEx Cup format, Thomas will start the Tour Championship next week at 10-under, two ahead of Cantlay. It’s a spot that he admits he doesn’t know how to handle.

“I could certainly, 1,000 percent say I’ve never slept on a Wednesday lead, so I’m excited about that,” he said at his post-victory press conference.

“I truly have no idea. There’s nobody in the history of this sport that has experienced it, so nobody knows. I don’t know if it’s going to be weird. It’s going to be different, I know that.”

It’s the first time all season that the 2017 FedEx Cup champion has been atop the standings. It’s been a frustrating season for Thomas, who began the year by losing a four-shot lead at the Genesis Open in February. A nagging wrist injury kept him out for three events in the middle of the schedule, including the PGA Championship in May.

Even when he returned to the tour he struggled, missing the cut at the Memorial and U.S. Open. He still hadn’t won an event in 2019, despite leading the tour in birdie average and ranking behind only Rory McIlroy in strokes gained: approach and tee to green.

With only one week left in the 2019 season, plenty of big names had their seasons come to an end at Medinah. Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth are all going home early, failing to crack the top-30 and qualify for the Tour Championship. Brooks Koepka, who led the standings most of the year, fell to third place after finishing in 24th at Medinah and will begin at seven-under next week, three behind Thomas. Patrick Reed and McIlroy round out the top-five chasing the $15 million first prize at East Lake.