This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Justin Thomas never gave in.

That’s the way GolfWeek put it as it analyzed Thomas’ win yesterday in the PGA Championship, his second win in one of golf’s “majors.”

His win and the way he produced it illustrated why he has become one of my favorite professional golfers.

Here is more from GolfWeek:

“Thomas never gave in.  Not when he had to battle a cold, allergies and his swing before the first round began.  Not when he got the worst of the draw the first two days.  Not when his putter let him down in the third round.  Not when he hit a shank early in the final round.

“And not when he faced a seven-shot deficit entering Sunday’s final 18 holes at Southern Hills Country Club.  Make that the final 21 holes.”

Thomas came storming home with four birdies in his last 10 holes in regulation to sign for a 3-under-par 67 to reach 5 under, then birdied the first two extra holes at the par-5 13th and par-4 17th and added a tap-in par on the par-4 final hole to defeat Will Zalatoris by one shot.

His win matched the largest comeback in PGA history.

I like Thomas for a variety of reasons.

First, hee plays well in tough tournaments with difficult weather conditions.  Nowhere was this more evident that in the second round of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Florida earlier this year.

In stiff winds, he hit a number of shots that defied reality.  One was on a par 4 hole when, into a buffeting wind, he hit a low, screaming 3-metal off the tee and into the fairway.

Thomas navigated TPC Sawgrass in 69 strokes without making a single bogey.  On a day when distance mattered less than trajectory, and balls seemed no safer on the ground than in the air, his was a beguiling display of shot-making and creativity in which he hit 14 greens and needed just 29 putts.  There have not been many more impressive rounds played on the PGA Tour this season.

Second, Thomas looks like a typical millennial, but several writers say he is the most old school player in golf.  One of those writers is Eamon Lynch who has followed Thomas for years.  He says Thomas’ upright golf swing is a homage to swings like Seve Ballesteros and Tom Watson.

Upright swings generally hit the golf ball higher and longer and tend to be a little wild from time to time so they come with a dependency on imagination for inevitable difficult recoveries.

Here’s the way Lunch added to the point:

“In some respects, Thomas is just what you’d expect to get if you asked central casting to send over a millennial golfer —j oggers and hoodies, niblick-thin physique, social media playfulness, an easy swagger that is the privilege of youth.  Yet a case can be made that Thomas is the most old school player on the PGA Tour, and Friday at the PGA Championship should be entered into the book of evidence.

“Some of it is attitude, a flinty disposition that prizes grit and abhors quit. There’s plenty of old school in his golf swing too, as experts in that sort of thing will attest.  Mostly, it’s evident in his gleeful embrace of conditions that flummox others, those all-too-rare days that demand imagination work in concert with execution. That’s not a challenge presented often in the weekly grind of the PGA Tour, where courses and the manner in which they are set-up tilt toward the one-dimensional.  That changes if weather becomes a factor.  The worse, the better, at least for Thomas.”

My third point is Thomas was smart enough to hire Jim “Bones” MacKay as his caddy after MacKay was let go by Phil Mickelson, the reasons for which have sparked a lot of speculation.  Whatever the case, McKay now works for Thomas and the two make a great team.

“Prior to this week, MacKay said, “Justin’s two best rounds of the year have been in heavy winds at both the Players and the Masters.  He loves to create in terms of his ball flight.”

Finally, for me, Thomas has etched his name onto the list of likely PGA Hall of Fame entrants.  He has a total of 15 wins on the PGA Tour and, now, two majors.

That should be enough, but the style of Thomas’ play is what draws me to him.

So does his class, no better exemplified when, after his win, he said he would rather win than watch someone lose as he has just done when Mito Pereira came unglued on the 18^th hole with a one-stroke lead.

Still, Thomas deserves credit for his win!

Footnote:  I didn’t get to watch any of this.  Instead, I was volunteering at an Oregon Golf Association event.  But this blog isn’t about me.  It’s about Justin Thomas.