RBC Heritage: Justin Thomas beats Andrew Novak in a playoff at Harbour Town to end nearly 3-year PGA Tour drought

Yahoo

14-05-2025

Finally, Justin Thomas' winless streak is over.
Thomas, after going nearly three full years without a win, beat Andrew Novak in a playoff at the RBC Heritage on Sunday afternoon. The win at Harbour Town in Hilton Head, South Carolina, was Thomas' first anywhere since his victory at the PGA Championship in 2022.
Naturally, after Thomas sank a 21-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to seal his victory, a massive celebration ensued on the green.
WHAT A WAY TO WIN IT! 🤯Justin Thomas with the putt to claim victory at the @RBC_Heritage 🔥🏆 pic.twitter.com/JSaofLwsur
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 20, 2025
"Winning's hard. It's really, really hard," an emotional Thomas said on CBS. "I've worked my butt off and stayed patient, stayed positive. I've got a great wife, great team, have a great daughter ... Just take it for granted sometimes when you get on those runs. I didn't realize how much I missed winning. Battling out there today was just so much fun."
Thomas and Novak had to head back out to replay the 18th on Sunday night after Novak missed what was a great opportunity to pick up his inaugural PGA Tour win. Novak, with Thomas already in the clubhouse ahead of him after a bogey-free 68, had an 8-footer for a potential winning birdie. But he sent the putt well left of the cup and didn't give it a chance.
We are going to a playoff! 😯Andrew Novak & Justin Thomas go back up to No.18 to decide the @RBC_Heritage 🏆 pic.twitter.com/QrfPacB1Kg
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 20, 2025
Then in the playoff, Novak nearly missed the green entirely with his approach shot. That left him with a very long birdie look, which he ended up two-putting for par. Thomas, though, hit his birdie putt to close it out right away.
Thomas was just about perfect all week. He opened the Signature Event with a 61 on Thursday, which matched the Harbour Town course record. It was his 14th round of 62 or better on Tour since 2015, too, which is the most of anyone in the league.
He then posted back-to-back 69s to enter Sunday just a shot back, which wouldn't have happened if he wasn't hit with a one-shot penalty from a waste area he landed in and then accidentally moved the ball. He also tried to hit the ball out of shallow muddy water on the back nine on Saturday, which didn't work out well for him.
'Didn't really seem worth it after all that.' 😂 Muddy situation for @JustinThomas34. pic.twitter.com/dJg1rydxCa
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 19, 2025
Thomas then carded his 68 on Sunday to keep himself in it with Novak playing behind him in the final group. Thomas finally took the solo lead after he sank a 24-foot birdie putt at the par-5 15th, which was his third birdie of the day.
What a putt from Justin Thomas! 🔥JT sinks a 24ft birdie putt to take the lead! @RBC_Heritage 🤩 pic.twitter.com/EEre7FplcT
— Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) April 20, 2025
While Novak birdied the 16th with a deep putt of his own to match Thomas at 17-under, he missed his would-be winning putt at the final hole after Thomas parred out ahead of him. That sent them to the playoff, where Thomas closed out his win and earned a $3.6 million check.
Novak entered this week at No. 62 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He had just two top-10 finishes all season, including in his last start with a T3 run at the Valero Texas Open earlier this month, though he's missed six cuts in 12 starts. The 30-year-old nearly picked up his inaugural win at the Bermuda Championship last fall, but he finished in second after shooting even par in his final round. This was his first-ever playoff.
Thomas is now in elite company on the PGA Tour with his win. He's one of just seven players, including both Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who have won at least 16 times on Tour with multiple major championships to his name since 1960, via The Athletic's Justin Ray. Thomas' winless streak didn't seem like something he'd have to deal with considering the start to his professional golf career. He won five times during the 2016-17 season, including his first major title at the PGA Championship, and then he won at least once over the next five seasons — including at The Players Championship and another PGA Championship. He won his second major in a playoff over Will Zalatoris 1,064 days ago.
Thomas has come painfully close to winning in recent years, too. He had six top-10 finishes on Tour last season, including a runner-up finish at the Zozo Championship, and he entered this week with a pair of runner-up finishes this season. Thomas finished in second at The American Express in January and then again at the Valspar Championship in March. He's not missed a single cut in 10 starts this season, and he's coming off a T36 finish at Augusta National last week.
'I'd say the majority of it has just been pressing and trying too hard,' Thomas said after Friday's round of his winless drought. 'I think it's just that's something I feel like I did so, so well there for a couple of years is I just let tournaments come to me and I just trusted in my ability.
'That's just been my key this week is I'm just trying to really trust my game and commit to what I'm doing. I have a lot of faith and confidence in what I can do. So I just need to let it happen.'
Though it took a playoff to pull it off, Thomas did just that.