Justin Thomas wins RBC Heritage with a long putt in a playoff for first win in 3 years

There must be something in the salty water of the Calibogue Sound that demands that all of the golf played on the nearby 18th green end in dramatic style. It could be the ghosts of pirates past or mermaids from the deep.

One thing is for sure, it’s never easy to win in regulation at Harbour Town.

Sunday was no different as it took one extra hole and a dramatic left-to-right 20 foot putt for Justin Thomas to steal the victory, the trophy and the tartan jacket from the 2025 RBC Heritage tournament over South Carolina’s own Andrew Novak who forced Thomas to find every ounce of will and grit to get his 16th PGA victory and his first in nearly three years.

Overtime is becoming “JT time”

Thomas is becoming a master at claiming victories in extra holes with this playoff win being the fifth of his career following his last playoff victory at the 2022 PGA Championship against Will Zalatoris at Southern Hills in a 3-hole aggregate showdown.

On the green moments after dropping the final dagger on the shores of the sound, Thomas was asked about the victory, “I didn’t know how much I missed winning” with him referencing being a month shy of three years outside of the winners circle on the PGA tour.

It isn’t over until it’s over and Harbour Town has seen it’s share of memorable playoffs after 72 holes of regulation golf. The 2025 contest for the tartan jacket was another in the series of nail biters and dramatic finishes. Sunday’s playoff marked the third time in the past four years that extra holes were needed to crown a champion with the last being Matt Fitzpatrick’s win over Jordan Spieth in 2023.

South Carolina’s Andrew Novak didn’t make things easy on Thomas as he gave him everything he could handle in the final three holes of this year’s heavily attended event.

How did the finale set up?

When Justin Thomas rolled in his 24-foot putt on #15 to put an apparent stranglehold on the victory, many thought the book was closed on the 2025 tournament.

But South Carolina’s Novak wasn’t singing from that hymnal.

He made a difficult putt for birdie on the par 3, #16 to pull even with Thomas at 17-under. Novak then had the steely reserve to make a short but tricky par putt on #17 to keep pace. His adrenaline-fueled drive on #18 left his ball 147-yards from the pin. He hit a gap wedge to a dozen feet from the hole and just missed the birdie putt but the resulting par forced a playoff on the shores of the Calibogue Sound.

But Thomas’ long putt on the first playoff hole ended the day and, in the moment, he dropped his putter to the green in celebration in front of his wife Jillian, new baby Molly Grace and other family members including his father Mike, a second generation golf pro.

The runner up is a Carolina player

Novak, who is a quiet but respected player on the tour, went to high school near Charleston and college at Wofford in Spartanburg. Novak only made three pars on the front nine while mixing in two bogies and four birdies to end the front at 2-under par. The back nine was a different story where he made all pars through #15 and a lone birdie on #16 but it was enough to get to extra frames before coming up a foot short on his long putt on the first playoff hole.

In short, Novak gave his all in this contest against a multiple major winner in Thomas and will have more chances in the near future to challenge the battle-tested veterans on the big stages.

JT and Novak separate themselves from the field on the final nine

As Thomas’ “lightning bolt” putt on #15 was falling effortlessly into the bottom of the cup, the pressure he put on the other chasers made palms a little more moist and the focus a little more tentative. Thomas just kept playing the game that has now delivered 16 PGA tour victories, including two majors, and eight more on various global tours in the past dozen years.

Brian Harman and world number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler both rinsed their shots on the par 5, #15 taking them out of the hunt. Scheffler went on to make a rare double bogie seven to end his chase. Harman made a bogie six on the par 5 to effectively take him out of contention.

Novak gained an advantage on #16 when he and Si Woo Kim had nearly the same shot and Kim played first on his approach; giving Novak a look at the wind’s effect and subsequent rollout on the green.

Thomas back at the top and inside the best ten

Thomas was near the top of every tournament he entered from 2017 through 2020 where he was posting low scores and cashing big checks. The past few years have seen him struggle to find the same success but Sunday’s win at Harbour Town will help in his return to form as the tour heads into the heart of the season and Ryder Cup spots are on the line.

For Thomas, he will probably try to conjure up the spirits of pirates and mermaids from the Calibogue Sound for at least the remainder of the 2025 season.

This story was originally published April 20, 2025 at 6:51 PM.