Justin Thomas is back in the spotlight, and hoping for a third PGA Championship
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – When dangerous weather closed Augusta National on Monday of the Masters, ESPN's Scott Van Pelt caught up over lunch with Justin Thomas. Van Pelt recounted how Thomas noted that he wasn't among the players invited to the press center to speak to the media, and, in fact, he didn't have any media responsibilities to do. Thomas smiled and said he was enjoying floating under the radar ahead of the first major of the season.
'I go, 'No, you don't. You want to go in there because the people that go in there are the people that they think are going to win. You want to be on that list,' ' recounted Van Pelt during a media conference call last week ahead of the 107th PGA Championship.
Van Pelt's ESPN colleague Curtis Strange chimed in and added, 'You never want to be under the radar, OK. And you never want to be getting close. When people say you're close, what does that mean? It means I'm not playing very well. OK, I'm getting better, but I'm not playing well.'
Justin Thomas ended drought at RBC Heritage
Thomas, 32, isn't floating under the radar anymore. This week at Quail Hollow, where he won the PGA Championship in 2017, he's among the favorites. He's had a legitimate chance to win in three of his last four starts and ended his three-year victory drought the week after the Masters at the RBC Heritage. Thomas has emerged from his slump with iron play as sharp as in his heyday, and thanks to some help from Xander Schauffele and a new, trusty putter, a Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 prototype, putting has gone from foe to friend – he's improved from 174th in Strokes Gained: putting last season to No. 20 this season.
'If he can keep the putter on fire,' said CBS's Trevor Immelman, 'I've got a feeling on Thomas for this (major).'
And so, given his run of good form, Thomas had media duties this week, including being requested to meet with the media on Tuesday morning. Last week, at the Truist Championship, Thomas finished tied for second. Asked if he thought there was any advantage to not coming into the PGA off a win, he said, 'I'd say so, but I'd sure as hell take the alternative. I'd much rather have won and have to deal with being tired, if you will. I will always take that.'
Strange tabbed him the third or fourth biggest story that the media would be talking about in the lead up to the major – ostensibly behind the likes of Rory McIlroy trying to win the first two legs of the Grand Slam, Jordan Spieth chasing the career Grand Slam, Scottie Scheffler a year after his arrest and Bryson DeChambeau being, well, Bryson DeChambeau and coming off a win on LIV Golf. Just as McIlroy has said that winning the Masters has been liberating, Thomas got the monkey off his back, and it could free him up for another run of success.
'Now he doesn't have to answer the 'why haven't you' questions, 'when is it going to happen' questions,' Van Pelt said.
'I've gone a couple stretches there where I feel like I've kind of won five, six, seven times in 30, 35 events, and it's there," Thomas said. "It's just sometimes things just happen when you win versus when you don't win. I feel like I kind of saw a little bit of that at Harbour Town of things going my way and maybe just making the putts and getting the bounces when you need to.'
Thomas, son of a PGA professional, is making his 10th PGA Championship start, winning the Wanamaker trophy in 2022 too. He's won 16 times on Tour but admitted that seeing Scheffler dominate and McIlroy complete the career Grand Slam made him want to remind golf fans that his name should be bandied about in the conversation for best of his generation. How much has he been fueled by competitive jealousy?
'A lot,' he admitted, noting that early in his career his good friend Jordan Spieth was the talk of the golf world for his exploits and more recently he mentioned to his wife, Jill, after watching the Masters, how cool and inspiring it was to see McIlroy achieve the career Grand Slam. 'I always wanted to win the Grand Slam, wanted to win all the majors. But for some reason watching somebody do it firsthand, it reminded me almost of, damn, I forgot, I really do want to do that. It's weird. It's something I think all of us – some certain people maybe hit us different ways in terms of jealousy or drive or whatever you want to call it.'
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