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There's something special going on for Justin Thomas at the CIMB Classic because the 23-year-old American golfer put together a terrific final round early Sunday morning to notch his second career PGA Tour victory -- both at TPC Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia over the past two years.

Thomas shot an 8-under 64 on Sunday with birdies on four of his first five holes and on two of his final three to win the $1.26 million purse and finish the tournament a ridiculous 23 under. He was three shots clear of runner up Hideki Matsuyama and four ahead of third-round leader Anirban Lahiri.

"I got to have a great start, being 4 under through five is pretty much how I dreamed about," said Thomas. "But I know those first five holes are very, very gettable, and I knew I needed to at least play them 2- or 3-under, so to play them five was a good start to the day."

This long birdie putt on No. 17 gave him a four-shot lead and basically clinched the victory.


As if that was not impressive enough, Thomas registered 13 birdies over his final 23 holes -- all without a bogey -- dating back to his third round on Saturday. During that third round, he was 4 over through his first 13 holes but closed with five birdies and sailed into Sunday and the tournament-clinching 66.

He talked about how he could have unraveled after that putrid third-round start but he hung in and competed until the very end.

"I really was very pleased with how I felt like I handled myself and how I felt out there," said Thomas. "I was very calm but a lot of it was from last year honestly. I didn't really get nervous until probably 16, 17, 18. It was a lot because of last year and what happened, and I used the past experiences that I've had. So, yeah, it feels great."

His preparation for Sunday's round? Waking up in the middle of the night in Malaysia to watch the Alabama-Texas A&M game. (Thomas played golf at Alabama.)

"The Alabama game kicked off at 3:30 our time," said Thomas. "Woke up at about 4:00 and got the computer and streamed it and just laid in bed and watched it and probably woke up a couple people in the rooms next to me. But was very pleased with our performance and it was definitely a good start today. I don't know how today would have gone if they had lost.

"[I FaceTimed with] a couple buddies, the "Rammer Jammer," the song we sing after we win, they FaceTimed so I could sing it with them. Those guys are probably having a pretty good time right now. It's maybe 2:30 in the morning or something there. Thank them for helping me out this morning."

Matsuyama charged hard on Thomas with a 66 but started off too far back to catch him. Matsuyama finished the tournament 20 under and took home $756,000.

For Thomas, this should be just another milestone in a long career of them. He has the stuff to be right up there with the best Americans. Guys like Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson. Thomas is good enough to be in that conversation. This win will vault him into the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings as he hurtles towards 2017.

Americans have won all seven CIMB Classics dating back to the 2010 PGA Tour season with Thomas the second golfer to go back-to-back in the event as Ryan Moore won in 2014-15.