Did Justin Thomas win or did Lee Westwood lose the Players
 

On a day when 9 of the top 12 finishers broke 70, Lee Westwood shot 72, three worse than his worst round of the week.

I like Lee Westwood and was rooting for him all week. But he gave it away.

Take nothing away from JT but Westwood controlled his own fate. Thomas didn't.

Congratulations Justin Thomas....
But take a look at what Lee Westwood's putt was worth on 18? That was a $500,000 putt !
1st: $2,700,000 prize money at The Players
2nd: $1,635,000
3rd: $1,035,000
4th: $735,000
$500.000 DOLLARS solo 2nd place $1,635,000 minus the $1,135,00 he would have received. (He would have split with 2nd $1,635,000,+ 3rd $1,035,000 and + 4th $735,000 place money, divided by 3 players tied for $1,135,000 each)

Just like all tournaments, and especially the big ones, it's a matter of who can control the internal pressure the most. While I was rooting for Westwood all week and hated to see him get so close and not be able to close it out (again), the 'old guy' has nothing to be ashamed about. As noted, at least that last putt was huge for the wallet. To answer the OP's question - JT won it.

Totally disagree.

He didn’t play well enough to win, but flirting with par on that course on Sunday isn’t giving it away imo. Thomas just beat him and he deserved the win.

Agreed, JT absolutely deserved to win. Considering that he couldn't buy a putt on the front and burned a lot of edges early, yet stayed emotionally steady and didn't let it bother him, his final score was actually higher than it could or should have been.

Obviously, none of this really matters since Thomas won the tournament. But, he did outplay Westwood by 4 strokes in the final round. And, Westwood shot a 72, which was his worst round of the tournament. So, I think the pressure affected his game. Players who win the most tournaments are the ones who can maintain their game under pressure.

That's another good point. Westwood shot 69-66-68-72. If he had even matched his worst round of the previous 3 he would have won. The average score of the top twelve finishers was 69.2 so a mediocre 69 or 70 by Westwood wins the tournament.

The fact that JT missed a lot putts on the front that Westwood made a boatload of 8-10 footers is completely irrelevant.

While it's true that Thomas beat Westwood by four strokes on Sunday, the fact that Westwood had his worst round of the tournament and was three shots worse than the average of the top twelve finishers is, to me, a collapse by Westwood more than come from behind victory by Thomas. If all of the leaders shot 80 and Thomas shot 72 no one would be talking about how he beat all the leaders by eight shots.

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as to "he lost it" or "he won it". I really didn't care in the least. I enjoyed watching it all. A wonderful, beautiful, fantastic, challenging course played under the most perfect conditions. We all know that it's a game on fractions of a centimeter and that emotions are so very difficult to control. In the end was pulling for 4 golfers, and they happened to land into those spots.

It surely was a treat to see Westwood again this week. I love that he has the experience and confidence to maintain the Book and not need second opinions as to shots etc. And Helen is a nice treat on the course. I hope that he does have a win soon, he deserves it. Glad he got 2nd to himself and the $$$.
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Wow!! Totally disagree with you again, Doc. That would be huge news in the golf world. :D

JTs two eagles won it for him

Thomas won it.
A lot of the caddies had a good four days finacially as well!

Justin shot 4 under with $2700000 on the line. In my wildest dreams how can that be discredited ? Like that was a walk in the park thing to do ?

Especially on #4 for Westwood and Bryson was the game changer.

They showed a graphic on the telecast that reported that the last six times Westwood has been in the final pairing on Sunday he has not won the tournament. So now it's seven in a row. Either he has an issue dealing with pressure or at his age he just runs out of steam on the fourth day. By the way, the last six times Bryson was in the final pairing he won, until the Players.

I think that you misunderstood what I said. I agree that all the leaders shooting 80 in the final round would be the talk of the golf world. What I'm saying is that no one would be talking about how JT beat Lee Westwood.

Everyone would be talking about a big collapse and that Thomas lucked out.