One of the most talented stars on the PGA Tour, Justin Thomas, is set for stardom, writes GARY LEMKE in Compleat Golfer.
This is the man who produced the first sub-60 round of 2017, and it’s his third-round 63 at the US Open that broke a 44-year-old tournament record. And then, for his final trick, he took to Twitter to tell his 140 000 followers, ‘Wouldn’t be surprised if @JordanSpieth just holes this bunker shot.’
Moments later Spieth did exactly that, to win the Travelers Championship in a playoff in June. And that’s just the thing with Justin Thomas. With him around, you expect things to happen.
Spieth, the boy wonder who raced to world No 1 before slipping down the rankings, but who is now surging upwards again, has been friends with Thomas for 10 years, which is to say since the pair were 14. They met when on the US team at the 2007 Evian Junior Masters, and their friendship has blossomed in an off-the-course ‘fourball’ that includes Rickie Fowler and Smylie Kaufman.
‘It’s just pretty unbelievable what he’s doing right now,’ Spieth said, after Thomas won the Sony Open in Hawaii in January. That victory came on the back of an opening-round 59, the seventh sub-60 round in PGA Tour history. ‘He’s got full control of his game, full confidence, and he’s executing under pressure. Myself and a lot of our peers have seen [this] for almost 10 years. He’s just showing the world what he’s capable of.’
Thomas’ breakthrough year came in 2014 when he won his first professional event, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, on the Web.com Tour.
He was drawn into a sudden-death playoff with South Africa’s Richard Sterne, and it was on the fourth playoff hole that Thomas drained a birdie putt to give him the victory. It moved him to a career-high 129th on the World Ranking, with Sterne, once as high as 29th, then hovering in the 80s.
While Sterne hasn’t yet taken the next step – his last win was the 2013 Joburg Open – that Web.com success simply sent Thomas on his way. He has subsequently won four times on the PGA Tour, including back-to-back CIMB Classics in 2015 and 2016 before starting off 2017 with a rush, claiming the SBS Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open. Those wins saw him crash into the world’s top 10 and you just know that’s where he belongs.
Thomas’ background is typical of so many Americans who have come through the ranks. The story goes that while being raised in Louisville, Kentucky, he was already swinging a golf club at the age of two. By the time he was seven he attended the 2000 PGA Championship, which was held at Valhalla Golf Club not far from his home, and he got an autograph from the great Jack Nicklaus.
‘I would say I’m a typical golf nut, from a golf family,’ Thomas noted of himself in 2015.
His father, Mike, was on the PGA of America national board from 2008 to 2010, and represented the PGA at the 2010 Ryder Cup in Wales when Thomas was competing at the Junior Ryder Cup. He’s also been head pro at Harmony Landing in Kentucky since 1990. Thomas’ grandfather, Paul, was the head professional at Zanesville Country Club in Ohio for over 25 years.
‘Mike gave Justin a love of playing. He didn’t make him a lover of golf swings,’ Jay Seawell, Thomas’ coach at Alabama, said. ‘Mike did a great job of making Justin love numbers one to 18. He was always on the golf course, playing with his dad. I think the more you play, the more you value the score.’
And now Thomas finds himself adapting to life as a multi-millionaire golf professional. There’s no looking back.
He has packed up his tent in Louisville and moved to Jupiter in Florida, where his neighbours – albeit you need a pair of binoculars to spot them – include Ernie Els, Tiger Woods, Fowler, Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Camilo Villegas.
Two of the attractions that have made Jupiter the most sought-after address in the golfing world? Year-round golf weather and no state income tax to pay.
Not that Thomas is a fan of the lukewarm Atlantic waters or the 5km stretches of beaches that are part and parcel of living in Jupiter.
‘At the Sony Open in January in Hawaii I tried paddle-boarding and the next day I was so sore I felt like I was 90 years old. Never again. I’m not a water guy, and especially not a fan of sharks. After travelling for weeks, playing golf non-stop and getting myself worn out, my idea of a good time is to sit on the couch and binge-watch something,’ he said earlier this year.
‘A while back, I watched three seasons of Entourage in one day. By myself, so I could take it in with no distractions and small talk. I had an early breakfast, dived into the show, snacked for lunch and then had dinner delivered. Weird, I know. But I bet I’m not the only human being who does that.’
Yet, when not on his couch, the 24-year-old is a relentless worker, especially on the putting green. It was an eagle putt that found the cup that saw him sign for a 59 in January. And, it could all stem back to that 10-year friendship with Spieth, who is considered the best putter in the world when he’s on his game.
‘About that time [age 14], we took part in these epic putting contests,’ Thomas says. ‘After so many tournament rounds, Jordan, myself and as many as 10 other players would go at it, often playing alternate shot as teams, until it was too dark to see.
‘It made me a lot better, not from watching Jordan’s stroke so much as having a good putter to go up against for so long. The best putting game is “pull-back”. If you miss, you have to pull the ball back a putter-length from where it stops. There isn’t a better way to learn to make the tough three-footers.’
And putting is what separates the contenders from the pretenders. As Lee Trevino used to say, ‘Dogs that chase cars and pros who putt for pars won’t last long in this world.’
It’s not to suggest that Thomas is short off the tee or has a suspect driving game. While he’s no Dustin Johnson, he still ranked 15 in driving distance in 2016 and averages over 300 yards off the tee.
But, it’s on the green where the shots count. ‘I still believe in the old saying of drive for show, putt for dough. It will always be true. Given a choice of 15 more yards or making another 30-footer every round, I’ll take making the putt. Dude, that’s four shots a week. And watching those putts drop would be more fun than bombing it out there.’
Now Thomas is ready for the ultimate move. By the end of June he was one of five players ranked in the world’s top 12 who had yet to win a Major, but at the age of 24 and with those four Tour victories next to his name, you have to guess he’s one of those players destined to get their name on a big trophy.
‘You don’t know when it will happen, or if it will happen, but that’s why I play, and I hope to be there at some point,’ Thomas says of the Majors. ‘And hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later. All I can worry about, though, is what I’m doing that week in a tournament and focus on my preparations.
‘I’m becoming a smarter golfer, giving myself more chances. And when I get into trouble I’m looking to just get it out and make par, generally accepting things more. I realise I don’t need to play my best to win – I just need to play smart.’
He’s also fiercely competitive. ‘I won’t play an 18-hole practice round unless I’m playing for something. That goes for when I’m at home, too. It doesn’t have to be for much, but it has to be for something, because I want to hit every shot like it matters. I never just mess around. If you make a swing without serious intent, you’re going backwards.’
Heading into The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in July, the previous seven Majors had all produced first-time champions. The trend started with Jason Day at the 2015 PGA Championship, and followed with Danny Willett, Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Jimmy Walker, Sergio Garcia and Brooks Koepka.
Despite this, Thomas – at least a year ago – felt the current generation might just be the ‘golden one’ that will produce a challenger to Jack Nicklaus’ 18 Major titles – or Woods’ 14. Considering that Rory McIlroy’s four leads the tally among them, Thomas’ views seemed highly unlikely, but he’s entitled to them nonetheless.
‘I don’t think Nicklaus’ record of 18 Majors is unbeatable at all,’ he told Golf Digest in 2016. ‘It would take a couple of huge years in which you won two or three Majors. But if someone did that, it would just be a matter of picking them off over the course of a long career. Even more gettable is someone winning 70 to 80 tournaments over a career. And if you really want to take it out there, I’ll bet someone on the PGA Tour shoots 58 sometime in the next five years.’
It’s a big call. But, given that many reckoned he was the reincarnation of Nostradamus after he foresaw Spieth holing out from that bunker to win the Travelers Championship, it might simply be a case of, ‘you heard it here first’.
BEST FINISHES
2014 – Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship (1st), Mexico Championship (2nd)
2015 – CIMB Classic (1st), Frys.com Open (T3rd), Sony Open in Hawaii (T6th)
2016 – CIMB Classic (1st), The Players Championship (T3rd), Honda Classic (T3rd), Travelers Championship (T3rd), Dunlop Phoenix Tournament (T4th), Tour Championship (T6th)
2017 – Sony Open in Hawaii (1st), SBS Tournament of Champions (1st), the Memorial Tournament (T4th), WGC-Mexico Championship (T5th), US Open (T9th)
*Since this was written, Thomas has secured his first Major at the PGA Championship
– This article first appeared in the August issue of Compleat Golfer
