A misfiring Rory McIlroy was forced to endure a role as front-row observer to a grinding masterclass from Justin Thomas as the American - a week before he defends his US PGA title - secured a ninth career win on the PGA Tour when he claimed the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.
Thomas shot a closing 69 for a 15-under-par total of 265, four shots clear of runner-up Kyle Stanley while world number one Dustin Johnson produced a closing 64 to leapfrog up the leaderboard to finish in a share of third place with Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen.
But McIlroy - who hit just four of 14 fairways as his driver misbehaved and four just seven of 18 greens in regulation as his approach play was also out-of-sorts - signed for a 73 for 272, eight-under, which saw him drop down to tied-sixth.
McIlroy birdied the Par 5 second hole but a run of four bogeys in six holes - at the fifth, eighth, ninth and 10th - saw any hopes of mounting a challenge disappear, and he was frustrated with approach play that saw him miss far too many greens while Paul Dunne struggled to a closing 74 for 288 in tied-66th.
Thomas won the last ever Bridgestone Invitational - the tournament moves to Memphis next year when it will be rebranded as the WGC-St Jude Invitational - with a no frills round of two birdies and a lone bogey that saw him claim the $1.8 million winner’s cheque and move him to number two in the latest world rankings.
“It feels awesome . . . we did such a great job sticking to our game plan, it was a lot firmer and crispier. We had such control of everything, I had a very clean card,” said Thomas. “I was staying patient.”
Thomas defends his PGA title at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis, Missouri, starting on Thursday.
Johnson’s decision to switch putters mid-tournament reaped dividends when he closed with a 64. After opening the championship with rounds of 69-71, Johnson changed to a TaylorMade Spider Mini putter. “I felt like I was working really hard on the putting and it just wasn’t getting any better, so I switched putters and it worked a little bit,” explained Johnson.
*Collated final round scores and totals in the WGC — Bridgestone Invitational (USA unless stated, par 70):
265 Justin Thomas 65 64 67 69
269 Kyle Stanley 63 68 70 68
270 Dustin Johnson 69 71 66 64, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 67 68 64
271 Brooks Koepka 66 70 68 67
272 Rory McIlroy (Irl) 65 67 67 73, Aaron Wise 67 71 67 67, Patrick Cantlay 64 72 68 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 65 70 69 68
273 Jason Day (Aus) 65 66 69 73, Tony Finau 68 66 71 68, Ian Poulter (Eng) 62 67 70 74, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 64 68 72 69
274 Marc Leishman (Aus) 65 69 67 73, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 66 63 74 71, Matt Kuchar 68 70 67 69
275 Zach Johnson 69 70 67 69, Ross Fisher (Eng) 67 68 71 69, Jon Rahm (Spa) 64 70 68 73, Gary Woodland 67 71 69 68, Rickie Fowler 63 74 65 73, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 68 67 69 71
276 Cameron Smith (Aus) 70 70 69 67
277 Luke List 65 68 71 73, Phil Mickelson 66 69 72 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 66 69 74, Webb Simpson 69 65 71 72
278 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 68 67 72 71, Patrick Reed 66 70 70 72
279 Bryson DeChambeau 75 69 68 67
280 Kevin Na 65 72 70 73, Tiger Woods 66 68 73 73, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 70 69 71, Alex Noren (Swe) 70 73 66 71, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 72 74 63, Patton Kizzire 68 67 74 71, Paul Casey (Eng) 68 71 71 70, Bubba Watson 71 69 67 73
281 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 72 70 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 72 70 72, Kevin Chappell 71 72 68 70, Haotong Li (Chn) 66 67 72 76, Ryuko Tokimatsu (Jpn) 68 71 71 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 69 67 75, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 69 71 68 73, Kevin Kisner 74 68 68 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 69 69 73
282 Daniel Berger 67 71 71 73, Ted Potter, Jr. 70 66 75 71, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 69 71 71 71, Russell Knox (Sco) 67 70 73 72, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 66 70 73 73
283 Charley Hoffman 69 70 73 71, Austin Cook 73 69 71 70, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 71 74 66 72, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 70 75 70 68
284 Adam Scott (Aus) 68 75 67 74, Andrew Landry 70 67 74 73, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 68 72 75 69
285 Brendan Steele 73 69 70 73, Jordan Spieth 71 72 68 74
286 Brian Harman 71 68 72 75
287 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 73 69 71 74, Pat Perez 68 70 73 76, Branden Grace (Rsa) 73 74 71 69
288 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 70 68 78, Paul Dunne (Irl) 71 68 75 74
292 Xander Schauffele 69 73 72 78
293 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 79 72 70, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 73 74 78 68
303 Jaco Ahlers (Rsa) 68 79 77 79
