Justin Thomas leads by 2 at Kapalua, seeking third PGA Tour win of short career

Justin Thomas has two PGA Tour wins, an accomplishment any of his peers would be happy to have on their resume if they don’t already.

However, among more casual golf fans, Thomas’ wins may have never hit their radar. They came in back-to-back years at the CIMB Classic, a limited-field event played in Malaysia in October. It’s one of those events on the PGA Tour’s fall-of-the-prior-year portion of its wraparound schedule, played at a time when sports fans are generally just taking a little bit of a break from golf.

Just because fewer people saw those wins than victories in the U.S. in the meat of the Tour’s season doesn’t mean they’re worth any less. In fact, Thomas’ successful defense at the CIMB Classic gives him an important distinction as golf kicks off in 2017. Thomas is the only player to have beaten Hideki Matsuyama in his last five worldwide starts.

The Japanese star ended 2016 on a monstrous tear, winning the WGC-HSBC Champions, Hero World Challenge, his national open and another Japan Golf Tour event as part of his closing handful of tournaments. He finished runner-up to Thomas in Malaysia.

Perhaps, then, we could have guessed those two players would be paired in Sunday’s final tee time at the SBS Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Thomas is at 18 under par at Kapalua’s Plantation Course, while Matsuyama, looking for a fifth win in his last six starts, will begin the final round two shots back.

“If I’m near Hideki in the tournament, that’s usually probably a pretty good thing on Sunday,” Thomas said Saturday after a third round of 6-under 67, his third such round of the week. “He’s obviously a tremendous player and he’s on an unbelievable run here the last five events.”

Thomas said he had no idea of his special status — at least as far as Matsuyama is concerned — until AP reporter Doug Ferguson tweeted about it earlier in the week.

The University of Alabama product isn’t afraid of playing from in front. He plays an aggressive brand of golf emblematic of his generation, and he feels comfortable trying to get a third win at a tournament like the CIMB Classic, where birdies and eagles are the only way to move up — or remain atop — the leaderboard.

“As long I’m leading going into Sunday, I really don’t care,” Thomas said, laughing. “I’m going to try to get it done however I can.”

Frankly, Thomas seems more concerned about how the Crimson Tide will perform on Monday night in the National Championship game in a rematch from last year’s game against Clemson.

“I don’t know, I’m already a little nervous, but I’ll be really nervous come Monday,” he said. “But I’m confident in the Tide and I think with the preparation that they are doing, they will be okay if they play well and do what they need to do.”

But if you replace “the Tide” with “myself,” then you’ll probably also have a good idea of how Thomas plans on approaching Sunday.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.