After a wild finish at Augusta National last weekend, the PGA Tour’s best headed North to Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head for another big event – the RBC Heritage.

While Rory McIlroy opted to skip this week and celebrate his Grand Slam victory, the rest of the tour’s biggest names teed it up at Harbour Town. Scottie Scheffler was hoping to successfully defend his title and pick up his first win of the season. Meanwhile, other stars were seeking to break win droughts of their own, such as Justin Thomas.

Thomas, a two-time PGA Champion, has won 15 times on the PGA Tour, but he hasn’t gotten the job done since his second major title in 2022 at Southern Hills. He’s been trending in the right direction for some time now, with his elite ball striking and around the green game carrying him to high finishes on a regular basis. However, his putter has often held him back from wins.

As play began on Thursday, Thomas immediately challenged that narrative by carding a course record-tying round of 61 in which he made 11 birdies and over 165 feet of putts. His 10-under round gave him an early 3-shot lead, with names like Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, and Tommy Fleetwood lurking close behind. Thomas continued his solid play on Friday with a second-round 69, which was good enough to give him the 36-hole lead.

On Saturday, Thomas’ steady play continued, and as the course got much firmer and faster, his third-round 68 was a good score. Nonetheless, he had lost his lead to the Si Woo Kim. The streaky South Korean made a big charge on moving day, shooting 64 and jumping into the lead by one at 15-under par.

Now a chaser in the final round, Thomas looked a little shaky out of the gate but he had multiple scrambling par saves that kept him right in it. After a bogey-free 2-under front nine, Thomas made one more birdie at the par-5 15th which got him to 17-under and back in the lead by one. Kim struggled to keep the momentum from Saturday and ultimately fell out of contention. However, another challenger in Andrew Novak rose to the occasion and matched Thomas at 17-under after a late birdie at the par-4 16th. Novak missed an eight-foot birdie on the 72nd hole that would have won him the tournament. Instead, the miss set up a sudden death playoff between Thomas and Novak.

Thomas made quick work in the playoff. Fittingly with a long putt, Thomas made a 20-foot birdie putt to win in dramatic fashion. The victory was his first in almost three years, and helped him move all the way into the No. 2 position in this season’s FedEx Cup standings.

Winner’s Bag - Justin Thomas 

Titleist staffer Justin Thomas picked up his 16th career PGA Tour victory on Sunday in Harbour Town. His long awaited return to the winners circle came on the back of an elite ball striking performance and an even better putting performance. 

All WITB information is courtesy of GolfWRX.

Driver: Titleist GT2 (10 degrees, D2 SureFit setting)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana Prototype

Off the tee, Thomas employs the new Titleist GT2 at 10 degrees with a Mitsubishi Diamana Prototype shaft. Thomas is one of many tour pros who transitioned from a ‘3’ model (ex: TS3, TSi3, TSR3) to a Titleist GT2 model, perhaps due to the more rounded shape of the GT2 head. This was the area of JT's game that actually kept him from running away with the tournament, as he actually lost 1.038 strokes to the field off the tee. 

Fairway Woods: Titleist TS3 (15 degrees, A1 SureFit setting), Titleist 915 Fd (18 degrees, B3 SureFit setting)

Shafts: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw Blue 85 TX (15 Degree), Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 X (18 Degree)

Despite doing extensive testing with a new Titleist GT280 mini driver, Thomas opted to carry two fairway woods – a 3-wood and a 5-wood. And both are older models that have been around the block. His 3-wood is the Titleist TS3 at 15 degrees with a Mitsubishi Tensei AV Blue Raw 85 TX shaft. The 5-wood is an even older model, a 915Fd which was first released back in 2014, at 18 degrees with a Fujikura Motore Speeder VC 9.2 X shaft. With the way Harbor Town is shaped, Thomas was often resorting to these fairway woods off the tee to not just hit a specific number, but also to hit a specific shape of shot to set himself up to attack the greens.

Irons: Titleist T200 (4), Titleist T100 (5), Titleist 621.JT (6-9)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

The irons powering Thomas’ elite approach game are a blend of Titleist irons, mostly consisting of a custom prototype Titleist 620 MB model built specifically for Thomas. The irons all contain the popular Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. This week, Thomas finished fifth on the week in strokes gained on approach shots with this unique set of irons.

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (46-10F @47.5, 52-12F @52.5, 56-14F @57, 60-04T @65)

Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (46), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (52-60)

Also known for his stellar wedge game and around the green play, Thomas plays four Vokey SM10 wedges. His wedge lofts consist of a 46-degree bent to 47.5, 52-degree bent to 52.5, 56-degree bent to 57, and a 60-degree bent to 60.5. He plays a mixture of shafts in these, including Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100s and Dynamic Gold S400s. Around the Green, JT was excellent. He finished 8th in scrambling, converting 17 of his 21 opportunities, and was 3 for 5 out of the sand. Overall, he gained 2.151 strokes on the field around the green, which was tied for the 15th best performance of the week.

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 Tour Prototype

Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour

The biggest factor in JT’s win this week was the putter. His Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 Tour Prototype came alive on Thursday, and remained solid the rest of the week up until the final birdie putt in the sudden death playoff. Thomas finished third for the week in strokes gained putting, exactly the type of performance Thomas needed to get back into the winner’s circle.