NAPA, Calif. – Tyler Duncan chipped in from the fringe for eagle on the par-5 18th hole Friday to take the second-round lead in the season-opening Safeway Open.

Making his second career PGA Tour start, Duncan shot a 6-under 66 for a one-stroke lead over defending champion Brendan Steele at Silverado Resort and Spa.

Duncan, the Web.com Tour graduate who shared the first-round lead with Steele and Tom Hoge, also had seven birdies and three bogeys to reach 13-under 131.

“It’s crazy, it’s nothing I could have ever dreamed of,” said Duncan, whose only other PGA Tour event was as a regional qualifier in the 2015 U.S. Open. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, to be honest. It’s something I’ve dreamed about for a long time. I’m just happy to be playing here and to be in the lead is something special.”

Steele had six birdies and a bogey in a 67. He’s 30 under is his past six rounds in the event.

“It was really a solid day, very similar to yesterday,” Steele said. “I hit a lot of good shots, rolled and a lot of good putts and was able to watch Chesson go crazy.”

Chesson Hadley, who began the second round seven shots behind the leaders, broke the course record with a career-best 61 to get within two strokes. He parred the final two holes.

“It’s just one of those days everything was going my way,” said Hadley, the 2014 Puerto Rico Open winner who regained his tour card through the Web.com Tour. “I was hitting great shots, good putts and got some good breaks. When you get that of momentum, things just go your way.

He had an eagle, 10 birdies and a bogey. His previous career best was a 64 in the opening round of the 2015 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., is five shots back after a second round 67. Nick Taylor (68) of Abbotsford, B.C., and Corey Conners (69) of Listowel, Ont., are five under while Ben Silverman (71) of Thornhill, Ont., is 3 under and David Hearn (72) of Brantford, Ont., is 1 under.

Conners and Silverman are making their debuts as full PGA Tour members.

Mackenzie Hughes (74) of Dundas, Ont., and Jamie Sadlowski (71) of St. Paul, Alta., both missed the cut.

Zac Blair (66) and Tony Finau (65) were 9 under, and Brian Davis (66) was another stroke back.

“I just had a lot of good looks,” said Blair, who doesn’t have a bogey through 36 holes. “I made 17 greens out there, left myself in some good spots, made a few of them and it was just kind of easy out there.”

Emiliano Grillo, who won the event two years ago, was 7 under after a 70

Phil Mickelson, seeking his first win in since 2013, shot his second 69 to reach 6 under.

“I expected to score a little bit better today, but I had some good chances today,” said Mickelson, who had six birdies, one bogey and a double bogey. “I drove it a lot better, I hit quite a few more fairways and gave myself some good birdie chances. But I let a few opportunities slide.”

Mickelson, playing in his 91st PGA Tour event since his last win, finished eighth in the tournament last year and has six straight rounds in the 60s at Silverado.

“A low round is out there,” said Mickelson, who birdied three straight holes after double-bogeying the 14th – his fifth hole of the day. “I feel like I’m getting close to it.”

John Daly, the two-time major winner who in May won his first PGA Tour Champions title and is playing via a sponsor exemption, birdied the 18th for second-round 69 to make the 1-under cut at 143. Daly had missed the cuts in his past 12 PGA Tour events.

NAPA, Calif. – Brendan Steele opened his Safeway Open title defence Thursday with a 7-under 65 for a share of the lead with Tyler Duncan and Tom Hoge in the PGA Tour’s season opener.

Lucas Glover, Chez Reavie, Emiliano Grillo and Jamie Lovemark were two shots back at 67.

Steele had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey. Last year at Silverado, he birdied the final three holes to overcome a four-shot deficit and beat Patton Kizzire by a stroke for his second PGA Tour title.

“A little bit of everything worked for me today,” Steele said. “I had a really good ball-striking day. I don’t think I missed a green, so that really helps. And then I had a good putting day as well, so you put that together and it’s going to be pretty good.

Duncan, making his first start as a PGA Tour member, also had six birdies, an eagle and a bogey.

“I thought the course would fit my game because hitting the fairways is important,” said Duncan, whose only other PGA Tour event was the 2015 U.S. Open. “There are a lot of sections in the greens that you’ve got to hit into and to hit it into those sections from the rough is pretty challenging.”

Hoge, beginning his fourth PGA Tour season, had seven birdies. He had a back-nine 30 with six birdies.

“I played really well the whole day,” said Hoge, whose PGA Tour career best is a tie for fourth in August at the Barracuda Open. “I was in a lot of fairways, on a lot of greens and the made a few putts.”

Steele didn’t miss a green in regulation.

“The greens are not holding very well, you have to be in the fairway,” Steele said. “I think this is the way that it’s meant to be played. It plays really nicely this way.”

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., was the low Canadian at 3 under after a 69. Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., who are both making their debuts as full PGA Tour members, shot 70’s and are 2 under.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., are 1 under while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., is 2 over and Jamie Sadlowski of St. Paul, Alta., is 5 over.

Zach Johnson, the 12-time PGA Tour winner playing the event for the first time, had a 68 with five birdies and a bogey.

“I love it. I liked to the moment I stepped foot on it,” said Johnson, whose last title was the 2015 British Open. “You can’t fake it around here. It’s right out in front of you. There are a couple of tee shots and a couple of approaches where you have to pay attention. It’s a very classic golf course.”

Phil Mickelson, the 42-time PGA Tour winner beginning his 27th PGA Tour season, birdied the 18th from 7 feet for a 69. The 47-year-old Mickelson, playing in his 91st PGA Tour event since his last title at the 2013 British Open, had five birdies and two bogeys.

Sang-moon Bae, the 2014 tournament winner, shot 73. He’s playing in his first tournament since a mandatory 21-month military stint in South Korea.

John Daly, the two-time major winner who won the PGA Tour Champions’ Insperity Invitational in May, had a 74. Daly has missed the cut in 12 straight PGA Tour events.

The Canadian contingent on the PGA Tour is growing, and that’s no surprise to Corey Conners and Ben Silverman.

Part of what’s been called a “groundswell” of Canadian talent, Conners and Silverman will make their debuts as Tour members this week at the Safeway Open in California. They will join fellow Canadians Graham DeLaet, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor on golf’s biggest stage.

Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., captured the Price Cutter Charity Championship on the Web.com Tour in August, en route to finishing 10th on the money list of the direct feeder to the PGA Tour.

The top 25 money earners during the 22-event season gain PGA Tour status.

Conners, from Listowel, Ont., finished 14th on the money list of the Web.com Tour finals and also earned PGA Tour status for the first time.

“I wouldn’t say I predicted this, but I saw it coming back when I was playing (on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada),” Silverman said on the growing number of Canadian PGA Tour members. “We were all playing at the same time? I just had a feeling we were all going to move on at some point or another, and we were all playing really well.”

Conners said it’s “pretty cool” to see the Canadians who have played golf together for a number of years reach the Tour at the same time.

“There are a lot of great players up and coming in Canada and it’s awesome to see they’re making their way to the top,” he said. “It’s great to see and I’m not surprised to see it.”

Conners notched three top-10 finishes this year on the Web.com Tour and also qualified for the U.S. Open. He played in the Masters in 2015, and said the experience he has from those two big events will be invaluable this year on the PGA Tour.

“I’ll be able to draw on those experiences a lot. I’ve drawn on previous experiences this year too, and it’s proved to be very helpful,” he said. “Having played on those big stages was great, and I’ll be really comfortable playing (PGA Tour) events.”

Conners will also be able to lean on Hughes, his former teammate at Kent State University, for tips during his rookie season. Conners said his girlfriend and Hughes’ wife have been texting a lot to prepare for the year ahead.

“It’ll be great to have (Mackenzie) and the other Canadian guys to learn from. It’ll be an easy transition,” he said.

Derek Ingram, the men’s head coach of Golf Canada’s national team _ which includes graduates Conners, Hughes, DeLaet, Hadwin, and Taylor _ thought having all these players on the PGA Tour at the same time would have taken a bit longer, but Hughes’ victory at the RSM Classic last November accelerated things.

“There are a lot of guys on the PGA Tour who can learn a ton from Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes. I’d say 80 to 90 per cent of Tour players could learn a lot from those two guys,” he said.

“It’ll be nice to have a buddy out there for sure. Corey will lean on (Mackenzie) heavily for the golf course details and where to stay ? just the process of the PGA Tour. They’re great friends.”

Although Silverman is 29, he said he doesn’t feel like an elder statesman amongst his younger peers.

“I didn’t play my first tournament until I was 16, so I kind of feel like I’m at the same point as these guys on the golf course,” he said. “Off the golf course it’s a little different. I have a family. I just don’t feel 30 when I’m playing professional golf.”

Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum said there has been a “groundswell” of enthusiasm around the Canadians who are representing the country in golf.

“It’s trending as if at least a dozen men and women will be playing on the PGA and LPGA Tours in 2018, and wins by Brooke Henderson, Mackenzie Hughes and Adam Hadwin, who just played in his first Presidents Cup, have been inspiring,” he said.

David Hearn will also play this week at the Safeway Open, which goes from October 5-8 in Napa, Calif. Hearn has conditional status on the PGA Tour this year after finishing 128th on the FedEx Cup standings last season. The top 125 golfers each year earn full status.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Americans won the Presidents Cup for the seventh straight time, and this one was no contest.

With most of the work already done, a dominant U.S. team needed only one point from the 12 singles matches Sunday. Kevin Chappell halved the first match with Marc Leishman, and victory was assured when Daniel Berger went 3 up with three to play against Si Woo Kim in the fourth match.

Berger wound up winning his match, and the celebration was on.

The last point came from Phil Mickelson, a 47-year-old on an American team that featured six players in their 20s. Mickelson has played in every Presidents Cup since it began in 1994. This was his 23rd straight team in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. And in his 100th career match, he beat Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., 2 and 1.

The final score was 19-11.

The Americans fell short of their goal to become the first Presidents Cup team to win all five sessions. The Internationals won six matches and halved two others. One of those victories belonged to Jhonattan Vegas, who waved his Venezuela flag after beating Jordan Spieth, keeping Spieth winless in singles in his five team competitions as a pro.

President Donald Trump arrived at Liberty National about 45 minutes before the Americans secured the gold trophy that he was to present to them. Trump, the honorary chairman of the matches, is the first sitting president to attend on the final day and present the trophy.

“This is a juggernaut of a U.S. team,” said Nick Price, in his third and final stint of the International captain, all of them losses. “They’re an overpowering team that played some phenomenal golf. It was tough to watch, especially being on the receiving end.”

The Americans had an 11-point lead going into Sunday. All that remained was the margin of victory, and to see if they could become the first team to win all five sessions in the Presidents Cup.

That was the motivation from U.S. captain Steve Stricker, and the players responded with some of their best golf.

So thorough was this beating that Chappell and Charley Hoffman could have clinched the cup Saturday evening if they had won their fourballs match. Stricker sent them out at the top of his lineup to give them a chance to finish the job. Chappell nearly did. Hoffman was beaten by Jason Day, who had gone nine straight matches without winning until a 2-and-1 victory.

Instead, the clinching match fell to Berger, who had told Sky Sports in an interview Saturday, “Our goal from the minute we got here was to crush them as bad as we can. I hope that we close them out today and we go out there tomorrow and beat them even worse.”

Berger won his match on the 17th green with the Americans who had finished gathered around and ready to start their party. Hoffman ran over and sprayed Berger with champagne, and Berger took a swig from the bottle before handing it over to Stricker for a quick guzzle.

“They came in here riding a ton of momentum and a ton of confidence,” Stricker said. “It was about getting out of their way.”

The Americans have a 10-1-1 record in the Presidents Cup. The only loss was at Royal Melbourne in 1998, which ended just 12 days before Christmas. The matches return to Australia in two years for another pre-Christmas test for the Americans.

“It was a bit of a slaughtering this week,” said Adam Scott, who won his first point of the week by beating U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The Americans came within one match of winning the Presidents Cup.

On Saturday.

Anirban Lahiri made two clutch birdies that only delayed the inevitable. This is a powerful U.S. team playing to its full potential, and the result is the biggest blowout since these matches began in 1994.

Lahiri and Si Woo Kim had the only victory for the International team over two sessions. From the sun rising over the Manhattan until the chilly twilight at Liberty National, the American poured it on. They had a 14 1/2-3 1/2 lead and need only one point Sunday to win the cup for seventh straight time.

Phil Mickelson set a Presidents Cup record with his 25th victory, breaking the record set by Tiger Woods. Mickelson hit two wedges into birdie range in the morning foursomes session with Kevin Kisner, when the Americans won three matches and halved the other.

Jordan Spieth’s best intentions cost him a hole in a ruling rarely seen in match play, though that didn’t matter. All that did was inspire Spieth and Patrick Reed to win yet another match. They are 8-1-3 as a partnership in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup.

Justin Thomas made another big birdie on the 14th hole and cupped his hand to his ear, covered by a beanie in the chill, to fire up a crowd that didn’t need much help. Even in the lone loss of the day, the Americans made it hard on them. Charley Hoffman chipped in from short of the 17th green and body-slammed partner Kevin Chappell, a celebration that lasted only long enough for Lahiri to match his birdie with a 20-foot putt.

Lahiri and Kim were 1 up playing the par-3 18th, and when Lahiri chipped to 3 feet and both Americans were in the bunker, they chose not to concede Lahiri’s putt until after Chappell had made par.

It was meaningless in the big picture, yet it illustrated clearly – along with all the celebrations – that no victory is too big for this U.S. team.

Hoffman was aware that his match could have ended it.

“We knew what was on our shoulders,” said Hoffman, the 40-year-old who had never been in a team competition as a pro. “I didn’t have my best stuff all day long, but I had a chance. Got to give it up to Lahiri. He made some great birdies coming down the stretch, and they knocked us off.”

The 11-point margin is the largest going into the 12 singles matches, breaking the International record of nine points set in 1998 at Royal Melbourne, the only time it has ever won the Presidents Cup. The 2003 matches ended in a tie.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin will square off against Phil Mickelson at 1:54 p.m. local time

While the outcome was inevitable, this day still had its moment, none more peculiar than the 12th hole.

Jason Day was already down for a birdie. Spieth had 12 feet for his birdie, while Louis Oosthuizen hit his drive behind the green on the reachable par 4 and had a shot at eagle. The ball raced by the hole and was headed down the slope with water on the other side, and the partisan American crowd was urging it to keep going.

Spieth had heard enough and reached over and scooped away the moving ball with his putter.

Match referee Andy McFee, a top rules chief on the European Tour, stepped in and informed Spieth that it was a violation of the first rule in golf (Rule 1-2): “A player must not take an action with the intent to influence the movement of a ball in play.”

No player would ever do that in stroke play (though John Daly and Kirk Triplett did it to their golf balls on U.S. Open greens). Spieth figured the International team already had its birdie. Even so, the rule meant Spieth was disqualified from the hole, even as Oosthuizen and Day protested.

“I’m sorry for trying to do the right thing,” Spieth said to McFee, a mixture of sarcasm and frustration.

That gave Day and Oosthuizen a 1-up lead that lasted only three holes. Spieth birdied the 15th to square the match, Reed hit a tee shot into the wind and along a ridge to 5 feet for birdie on the 16th, and Spieth birdied the 17th to close them out.

Day went 0-4-1 in the Presidents Cup two years ago. He heads into singles with a 0-3-1 mark at Liberty National. Hideki Matsuyama has failed to win a match. Adam Scott is 0-3 and sat out the Saturday afternoon session.

Dustin Johnson extended his record to 4-0 this week, teaming with Matt Kuchar for an easy victory in foursomes and riding U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and his hot putter for a 3-and-2 victory that put the Americans on the cusp of victory.

The celebration will have to wait. Lahiri missed a 3 1/2-foot putt on the 18th hole that cost the International team a rare victory in South Korea two years ago. This time he saved his team, if only for a day.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Phil Mickelson and Kevin Kisner rehearsed the dance from “Three Amigos.” The only question was whether to use it at the Presidents Cup, and as the veteran of 23 team events, Mickelson concluded it would need to be a big moment.

Their match was all square on the 18th hole Friday. Mickelson was 12 feet away for birdie. A victory would give the Americans a record lead.

“If this putt goes in,” Mickelson said he told his rookie partner, “we’re going to dance.”

This turned out to be one big dance party for an American team that has gone nearly two decades without losing. They hammered the International teams on the back nine to go unbeaten in fourballs and build an 8-2 lead, the largest margin after two sessions since the Presidents Cup began in 1994.

Mickelson had his 24th match victory to tie the Presidents Cup record held by Tiger Woods, and he set a record with his 10th victory in fourballs.

As for that dance ?

It looked a little awkward, though Mickelson did slightly better than when he cropped most of his face out of a selfie he took during the opening ceremony with the last three U.S. presidents.

“I’m clearly the worst selfie taker. I’m the worst ‘Three Amigos’ dancer,” Mickelson said. “But I can putt.”

So can his teammates, who have followed the script set out by U.S. captain Steve Stricker to win every session. They won handily in the other three matches. The other match was a halve, but even in that one, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin had a 2-up lead with four holes to play until Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed rallied. The Americans nearly won that one, too, except that Spieth narrowly missed birdie putts on the last two holes.

“Our guys stepped up again,” Stricker said. “They have a knack for doing that. To finish like that is huge for us going into tomorrow.”

Mathematically, the International team could be done Saturday, the first day of a double session – four matches of foursomes in the morning, following by four matches of fourballs in the afternoon. The Americans are 7 1/2 points away from clinching the cup.

“I think we saw the strength of the U.S. team come out today,” Price said.

He also saw his team play its worst golf on the back nine at Liberty National. The Americans won 13 holes on the back nine. The Internationals won three.

Price was not about to give up, hopeful of gaining some momentum in the morning and riding it into the afternoon ahead of the 12 singles matches on the final day.

“We’re only 10 points through 30. There’s 20 points left,” Price said. “We are not laying down. These guys are going to come out fighting over the next two days, and especially tomorrow.”

Justin Thomas, already with a big year behind him as a major champion and the FedEx Cup champion, teamed with Rickie Fowler for another easy victory. They have trailed only one hole in their two matches, and they became the first partnership to beat Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace.

They took the lead for good when Fowler made a 15-foot birdie putt on the third hole, and then Thomas produced the loudest cheer of the afternoon at a pivotal moment on the 14th hole. Oosthuizen hit his approach to 6 feet, while both Americans missed the green. From the left bunker, Thomas blasted out perfectly and watched it drop in for a birdie that kept the International team from cutting the deficit to 1 down.

Thomas birdied the next hole, and his bunker shot on the 16th hit the pin and somehow stayed out.

The shortest match of the day belonged to a pair of American rookies, Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman, who sat out the foursomes matches in the opening session. They were 3 up after four holes against Charl Schwartzel and Anirban Lahiri and never let up in a 6-and-5 victory.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, close friends and the last two U.S. Open champions, took their first lead on the par-3 10th with Koepka’s birdie, and Johnson showed rare emotion on his final two birdies in a 3-and-2 victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

Scott set a record of his own – it was his 19th loss in the Presidents Cup, breaking the record held by Ernie Els.

The Americans have a 9-1-1 lead in the series, their only loss coming in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. But it has at least been close after the opening two sessions, with neither side leading by more than two points since 1998.

“We’re going to keep the pedal down,” Hoffman said. “These guys are going to keep pushing us. We’re not going to get complacent where we’re at right now.”

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The opening ceremony at the Presidents Cup was unlike any other in golf with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton on the first tee.

The results were all too familiar.

The Americans led at some point in all five of the foursomes matches Thursday at Liberty National. They won the first three. And when they jumped on a ferry to take them across the New York Harbor to their Manhattan hotel, they had the lead.

The U.S. Team surged into the lead after Day 1 of the @PresidentsCup. pic.twitter.com/M1DOLBsqQi

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 29, 2017

Behind a new tandem of Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas, and an old one of Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed, the Americans jumped out to a 3 1/2-1 1/2 lead. It was the sixth consecutive time they led after the opening session in an event they haven’t lost in two decades.

“Jordan mentioned that this first session is pretty critical and we need to go out there and take care of business,” Fowler said. “I feel like as a team, we did a really good job of that. If we can do the same thing tomorrow and win another session, it puts us in a great position.”

Thomas and Fowler lost only two holes in a 6-and-4 victory over Hideki Matsuyama and Charl Schwartzel. Spieth and Reed improved to 6-1-2 as a tandem in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. Spieth holed a 35-foot putt on the 11th hole right when it looked as if Emiliano Grillo and Si Woo Kim might gain some momentum. Instead, the match was over three holes later, 5 and 4.

Dustin Johnson and Matt Kuchar remained unbeaten in four matches, not taking the lead until the 16th hole and making it stand in a 1-up victory over Adam Scott and Jhonattan Vegas.

“We’ve been off to poor starts for a while on Thursdays,” International captain Nick Price said. “We have a resilient team. They have this ability to come back and bounce back, and they have done it. They did it last time in Korea.”

Indeed, the Americans had a 4-1 lead after the first session two years ago, and that Presidents Cup came down to the final match.

Phil Mickelson, playing in his 23rd consecutive team competition, ended the tough, wind-swept afternoon at Liberty National by missing an 8-foot par putt, or the U.S. lead would have been even greater. He and Kevin Kisner were 1 down with two holes remaining to Jason Day and Marc Leishman, so a half-point wasn’t bad.

Mickelson’s only complaint was that he botched his selfie with the presidents, with barely his head showing.

For the most part, everything else went the Americans’ way.

The lone bright spot for the International team was Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace, who improved to 5-0 as a tandem. The South African duo pulled away for a 3-and-1 victory over U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger.

“Listen, we’re a half-point better than last time, so that’s a big up for us,” Grace said. “We’ve got a great team. We all want it really badly. … I’m sure we’re going to have a good night and then going to come back tomorrow blazing.”

The stars on this day didn’t hit a shot.

The leader of every country where the Presidents Cup is held are invited to be honorary chairman, but this was a first – three U.S. presidents together at this event, sitting together in a box on the first tee and then posing with the trophy, the players and their wives.

“I was looking forward to this Presidents Cup for a very long time, and I didn’t expect all the presidents to be there,” Schwartzel said. “Just to get to meet them was a dream come true for me. Then to hit that first tee shot with the wind pumping off the right was quite intimidating.”

The Americans have a 9-1-1 lead in the series, their lone loss in 1998 at Royal Melbourne a few weeks before Christmas.

The gusts topped 20 mph and felt even stronger on exposed areas of Liberty National, which sits across New York Harbor from Manhattan.

The par-3 10th hole was so difficult to judge the wind that Scott hit a tee shot that sailed over the green into a hazard, while Spieth in the match behind him came up some 60 feet short of the hole in a bunker.

Johnson and Kuchar didn’t make a single bogey, remarkable in the format and in the wind, and they still didn’t take the lead until Johnson’s tee shot on the par-3 16th with a strong wind at his back stopped 5 feet away. Scott came up short, and then missed a 6-foot par putt.

“In alternate shot, in these conditions, not to make a bogey and for us to just win 1 up, that’s a heck of a battle that we had with those guys,” Kuchar said.

Friday features five matches of fourballs, followed by a full day of foursomes and fourballs Saturday and the decisive Sunday singles.

“There’s still a long, long ways to go,” U.S. captain Steve Stricker said. “But we very much liked the day and the way it started.”

ATLANTA — Justin Thomas had an inkling back in January that this season might be something special.

More than winning the Sony Open for a sweep of Hawaii and his third victory in five starts, it was how he won. Thomas opened with a 59 and never let up until he set the PGA Tour’s record for lowest 72-hole score and won by seven shots. Instead of trying to protect a lead, he left everyone in his wake.

“I felt like after that, I learned a lot to where I could kind of ride that momentum out for the year,” Thomas said.

But there was a moment early in the week at Waialae that might have set the tone for a FedEx Cup title that came down to the last hour.

Thomas played with Jordan Spieth when he shot 59, and the statistics would have suggested a different outcome. Spieth led the field that day in proximity to the hole with his approach shots at 18 feet, 4 inches. Thomas was seventh at 25 feet, 7 inches.

Thomas, however, was the one making all the putts.

On more than one occasion, they were on the same line and Thomas holed his putt from a longer distance, while Spieth missed. Over the next few days, Spieth couldn’t help but smile at the observation that Thomas was doing to him what Spieth had done to so many other players.

In some respects, it was like that all year.

Thomas went into a brief lull, missing six cuts in 14 events after Hawaii. He had a few flashes of brilliances, such as his 63 in the U.S. Open. Spieth caught up with three victories, including the third leg of the career Grand Slam at the British Open.

Thomas had the best finishing kick.

He won his first major at the PGA Championship. He won at the TPC Boston by outlasting Spieth on the back nine. The FedEx Cup title came down to the last day, and at one point, Thomas and Spieth were projected to tie, which would have meant a sudden-death playoff to decide the $10 million bonus. That was unlikely to happen, but fun to contemplate, even for Thomas when he saw the projections on a video board.

“I think I laughed when I saw it,” Thomas said. “I thought, ‘Honestly, this probably will happen and the golf world will completely blow up and lose its mind if Jordan and I were in a playoff for the FedEx Cup.’ I don’t think anybody would have known what to do with themselves.”

Thomas was a birdie short of winning the Tour Championship, though the FedEx Cup title was never in doubt over the last three holes.

In the 11-year era of the FedEx Cup, he joined Spieth and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the FedEx Cup in a season with at least five victories and a major.

The awards already are rolling in. Thomas clinched the points-based award from the PGA of America as player of the year. Ballots were sent out Monday to PGA Tour players for their vote, and there’s little doubt how that will turn out. Thomas also won the PGA Tour money title with just over $9.9 million.

Along the way, Thomas ticked off plenty of goals. He had kept them to himself on his phone, not willing to disclose them until the season was over. It ended on Sunday at East Lake when he was runner-up for the first time in his PGA Tour career, and it was enough to capture the FedEx Cup.

He pulled out his phone and began to read them when the screen switched over to an incoming phone call from his grandfather.

“Hey, Grandpa, can I call you back? I’m in the middle of a press conference,” Thomas said.

The list:

— Make the Tour Championship (check).

— Win at least once (check, check, check, check, check).

— Be in the final two groups of a major on Sunday (U.S. Open, PGA Championship).

— Win a major (PGA Championship).

— Make the Presidents Cup team (check).

— Better than 0.25 in the strokes-gained putting statistic (0.289).

— Better than 1 in strokes gained tee-to-green (1.33).

— Top 10 in the all-around statistical category (No. 6)

— Top 30 in scrambling (No. 28).

— Sub-70 scoring average (69.36).

— Top 10 in half of his starts. (“I missed by one,” he said.)

Hey, he can’t have it all. But he has plenty this year, the least significant of which might be the $10 million bonus.

Cash only matters to Thomas when he loses a bet.

The difficulty is what that list looks like next season. Thomas said when he finally gets time to reflect after this week’s Presidents Cup, he’ll spend time with Spieth and Woods — two players he knows well who can appreciate big years — and ask them how to reset goals and manage expectations.

“And then we will go off to Malaysia again,” he said.

That’s where the winning started this season. The outlook no doubt will be different a year later.