Tiger Woods has won more than $10 million at the Bridgestone Invitational in his career, including 9 wins, according to USA Today.
McIlroy figured to be Thomas' most prominent roadblock on his way to his first World Golf Championship bottle cap, but the Northern Irishman tumbled out of contention when he played a six-hole stretch around the turn in 4 over par.
Woods, an eight-time WGC-Bridgestone champion, struggled on moving day having dropped three shots during a 73 to plummet to three under.
Thomas began the final round with a three-shot lead over McIlroy and Ian Poulter, and his goal was to minimize his mistakes while forcing the other players to catch him. He needn't have anxious - he shot 73 and tied for sixth. There are a number of golfers - Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Francesco Molinari, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Jason Day, Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy among them - who could put their fingerprints on the trophy with a victory this week at Bellerive.
Putnam closed with a 22-foot birdie putt from off the front of the green on the par-5 18th when a bogey would have been enough for the breakthrough victory at Montreux Golf and Country Club. And with only 71 players in the field, there is more money to go around.
"I think what he learned is that he has to play his game and not force it, " said Thomas' caddie, Jimmy Johnson, who has been working with Thomas for three years after a long stint with Steve Stricker.
"We sat down and just said, what are we doing wrong?" I hit some better wedge shots out there, which was good to see.
Ian Poulter is currently top of the leaderboard at Bridgestone
"It's really cool", Thomas said. "Today I didn't drive it quite as well, didn't putt quite as good as I wanted to".
He said the victory was particularly special given his grandfather, who played in the 1960 US PGA Championship at Firestone, was in the gallery.
Still, this is the first time since the 2015 Wyndham Championship that Woods has started a tournament with two rounds in the 60s, and it is the second-best he has been in any tournament this year through 36 holes; he was tied for second at the Valspar Championship.
It leaves the former world No.1 Day in solo fourth, four shots back of leader Justin Thomas. I'm going to miss this place.
"It was very similar to the first day, " Woods said. It added up to a solid 3-under-par 69 and the prospect of a first win on the LPGA Tour, let alone a first major title.
Thomas, 25, took a three-shot lead into Sunday's final round of this year's tournament.
Zimbabwe opposition leader says winning election 'resoundingly'
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it had so far released results for seven parliament seats out of 210. There will be a runoff on September 8 if no candidate wins more than half the votes.
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