Justin Thomas paid tribute to his caddie, Jim 'Bones' Mackay, for motivating him before his epic final round comeback to win his second PGA Championship and second Major title at Southern Hills on Sunday.

"Yeah, I'm fully confident in saying that I wouldn't be standing here if he didn't give me that - wasn't necessarily a speech, but a talk, if you will. I just needed to let some steam out," said Thomas, who edged fellow American Will Zalatoris in a three-hole aggrgate playoff after both men finished 72 holes tied on five-under-par.

Thomas was feeling frustrated after a third round 74 in tough conditions left him seven shots behind 54-hole leader Mito Pereira of Chile. 

"I didn't need to bring my frustration and anger home with me. I didn't need to leave the golf course in a negative frame of mind. I just went down - I played pretty well yesterday for shooting 4-over, and I felt like I'd played terrible," noted the 29-year-old. "And he (Mackay) was just like, dude, you've got to be stop being so hard on yourself. You're in contention every single week we're playing.

"Bones did an unbelievable job of just keeping me in the moment today. We just tried to play the golf course for what it is, and this place is so tough."

Mackay started caddieing for Thomas last September, leaving a full-time golf commentary gig with NBC. He had previously been the bagman for Phil Mickelson for 25 years through 2017.

Thomas' first Major came at the 2017 PGA Championship, the year he won five times and picked up the FedExCup and Player of the Year award. He now holds 15 PGA Tour titles, but before Sunday had not won on tour since The Players Championship last March.

"I've had a lot of chances to win tournaments, and it's a hard golf course; it's a major championship. You don't have to be perfect. Just don't be hard on yourself. Just kind of let stuff happen, and everything is trending in the right direction. So just keep staying positive so that good stuff can happen," said the two-time CIMB Classic champion.

"I left here in an awesome frame of mind. It was very -- I think the last player here, it was so peaceful. It was almost kind of eerie how beautiful it was outside, and there's not very many times after shooting 4-over on Saturday of a major I left in as good a frame of mind as I have."

Final Round Leaderboard
275 (-5) - Justin Thomas 67-67-74-67, Will Zalatoris 66-65-73-71
276 (-4) - Cameron Young 71-67-67-71, Mito Pereira 68-64-69-75
Playoff (3-hole aggregate on 13-17-18)
Thomas: birdie (4) – birdie (3) – par (4), 2-under
Zalatoris: birdie (4) – par (4) – par (4), 1-under

Things to Know
- Justin Thomas' father and grandfather are both PGA professionals
- Thomas seven-stroke final round comeback ties the PGA Championship record
- Thomas’ win is the largest comeback on the PGA Tour win since Justin Rose came from eight back at the 2017 WGC-HSBC Champions
- Thomas has now won in seven straight seasons on the PGA Tour (this will become the tour’s longest streak if Dustin Johnson does not win this season)
- Thomas wins the first playoff at the PGA Championship since 2011 (Keegan Bradley over Jason Dufner)
- Thomas wins the fifth 3-hole aggregate playoff in PGA Championship history; is the first to birdie the first two holes
- Thomas wins the first playoff in a major championship since the 2017 Masters (Sergio Garcia over Justin Rose)
- Thomas becomes the seventh-consecutive American winner of the PGA Championship
- 54-hole leader Mito Pereira's T3 is the best finish by a Chilean at a major. He double bogeyed the last hole en route to a closing 75, missing out on the playoff by one shot.