A VAST improvement in form yielding a bogey-free final round was just the tonic needed for American Justin Thomas to retain his CIMB Classic title.

Trailing by four strokes going into Sunday, a flurry of birdies in the first 10 holes at the TPC Kuala Lumpur gave him a three stroke victory over Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama.

Thomas led on Thursday and Friday, only to surrender day 3 to India’s Anirban Lahiri with a modest 71. Indian Lahiri blotted his score sheet in the final round with a quadruple bogey nine on the par-five third hole.

A final round of 67 propelled Derek Fathauer up the leaderboard, finally sharing third with Lahiri.

Thomas’ feat mirrors that of Ryan Moore who won the CIMB Classic twice in a row in 2013 and 2014, making them the tournament’s only winners since it earned joined the PGA Tour family.

His four-day total of (-23) did not quite match last year’s effort where the 23-year-old American recorded a 72-hole tournament’s best record of 26-under-par).

This CIMB Classic victory brings with it 500 FedExCup points for Thomas who now leads in the standings with 575 points early into the season.

CIMB Classic 2016 Final-round Leaderboard;

Justin Thomas 64-66-71-64 – 265 (-23)

Hideki Matsuyama 69-64-69-66 – 268 (-20)

Derek Fathauer 64-70-68-67 – 269 (-19)

Anirban Lahiri 66-66-65-72 – 269 (-19)