For Justin Thomas, the return of the players means more
Last week Justin Thomas shot 79-79. He missed the cut. He finished in last place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
This week? Justin Thomas opened with a double advantage: 68-68. Through two rounds he is T4 at the Players Championship, in contention for a second title at TPC Sawgrass in his first five years.
But regardless of what happens this weekend — and if you’ll pardon the cliche — Thomas is already leaving this week as a winner.
It’s always hard to know how easy it is for top pros to wipe the slate clean after a bad week. Thomas 79-79 was under certain conditions; Bay Hill was his first competitive appearance following a four-month layoff following back surgery last fall. Being away for so long meant, in theory, that Thomas could give himself a break. However, in reality? When the reporter asked if self-kindness helped him to continue; Thomas just laughed.
“You probably wouldn’t say that if you were with me on Friday afternoon. He was having trouble staying focused. He was struggling to find fairways. He was struggling to hit the green. And he was struggling to put where he was. All of that was understandable, from an outsider’s perspective. It was hard for Thomas to get a handle on it.
“When you post two good points that are humiliating, it’s hard to give yourself a lot of grace,” he said.
His final response on Thursday was particularly revealing.
How to confirm thiswas asked, that maybe you weren’t as far off as it might seem [last week]?
Thomas would have been surprised by the implication that his golf game – and his belief in that golf game – could be shaken in two bad rounds. He admitted the opposite.
“Man, it helps,” he said. “I was breathing hard while walking [his final hole] and I said, inside, ‘I needed that.'”
Then on Friday Thomas followed up that opening round 68 with another strong day, birdieing the challenging 18th hole to match his Day 1 score.
It was not easy, especially on the mental side. After nine Thomas told his teacher Matt “Rev” Minister how hard he was having a hard time staying focused.
“I get spacey, too [I’m] on the ball and somehow not thinking about anything. I don’t think about the shot I’m trying to hit, I don’t think about the yard I’m trying to hit. That’s right, I’m getting lost,” he said.
You wouldn’t know it by looking. Thomas’ round was an exercise in patience; he hit his first six greens in regulation and went for par on his first six holes before he started showing off his short game, first with an up-and-down from 150 yards on No. 7, then a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 8, then another par save from the bunker on 10 and then the crown jewel: an eagle shot on the green that leaves 1 Thomas teeing up the hole. leaderboard.
“It was a very sick chip,” he said. “I’m just trying to visualize it and see it hit my spot, luckily the hole went in the way. It was nice to steal one there.”
Thomas hit his tee shot on the next hole and made bogey – in his opinion, a focus-related problem – before dialing his tee shot all the way home. He birdied inside 18 feet on each of his last six holes, making two and booking himself a late tee time on Saturday.
“The biggest thing for me is dedication and confidence in the decision I’ve made, the club I’m hitting, whatever it is,” said Thomas. He found something there. Now it’s a matter of continuity.
It’s fitting that Thomas is back in the tournament, where just a year ago he shot a first-round 78 and a second-round 62. He is a solid golfer.
Thomas has a lot to gain from the weekend, which is a reversal of the worrying pattern of results in major sporting events. Thomas remains one of the top talents in the sport, but since winning the 2021 Players he has done no better than T33 in four starts. And since winning the 2022 PGA Championship he has made just one top-30 appearance at a major, T8 at the 2024 PGA, missing seven of 14 cuts in the process. His most recent victory came less than a year ago, also at the Signature event, last year’s RBC Heritage. However, as we have been reminded, Players are on a different level. A fight here can go a long way.
But Thomas is coming a long way. Shooting 79-79 and coming back a week later to shoot 68-68 gives him an easy confidence base to build on. Earlier this week he talked about being disciplined in his rehab and said he was trying to take the long view.
“I can play this game competitively and, well, for another 10 to 15 years, there’s no problem if I do this the way I’m supposed to do it,” he said. (Thomas is 32.)
“It’s sad … the lack of sharpness in some of these events that I love. But, you know, in the big picture it’s like, if I struggle at the beginning of the year coming back from this injury and win a few majors this year, like nobody’s going to remember that I just shot 14 over at Bay Hill, right?”
They may remember. But only because it would be a good start to a good story.
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