Justin Thomas in favor of making PGA Tour pace-of-play data public
Justin Thomas said he wants the PGA Tour to make its pace-of-play data public. Here’s why.
- Thomas had 11 birdies and one bogey during his round.
PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Justin Thomas did not know how close he was to The Players Championship course record until he looked up at the scoreboard at the 17th hole.
“I saw up on the screen … Tom Hoge and I hugging, and I was like, ‘Wow, I forgot, he shoot 62 when I played with him,’
“I did remember that after that.”
Welcome to Tom Hoge territory, Justin Thomas.
The Tequesta resident tied the TPC Sawgrass record Friday with a 10-under 62, one day after shooting a 78.
Thomas went from what he labeled probably the “worst driving and iron play” in a round in his career to “one of the best rounds I’ve played, for sure.”
This, after his second shot out of the rough at No. 18 rolled into the lake. But Thomas got up and down from 54 yards for a bogey that tied the record Hoge set during the third round in 2023. His record tying putt was from 2 feet.
“Mentally was the biggest thing,” Thomas said about the turnaround. “I felt like I did an unbelievable job of just keeping my eyes forward, keeping my blinders on, not looking backwards, forwards, anything like that. It was just … how can I put this ball in the fairway off the tee, and then how can I make birdie, and let’s rinse and repeat.”
Justin Thomas has 16-shot swing
Thomas had a 16-shot swing, from an opening round 78 to a 62. At 4-under, he is tied for 29th entering the weekend. He had risen 116 spots on the leaderboard — from T134 to T18 — when he stood on the 18th tee box.
But it was that 5-wood on No. 18 that likely cost him a chance at the outright record. Thomas would have signed for a 61 with a par but his ball was so deep in the rough he could not control his second shot.
“Once I missed the fairway, birdie is kind of out of the question,” he said. “Then I was trying to hit something short of the green there and the rough grabbed the face enough to have it shoot out straight left, and with the momentum of that ball, it’s obviously going in the water.”
Thomas had three bogeys, two doubles and a triple on Thursday. That included three water balls.
On Friday, he had 11 birdies before the bogey on No. 18.
“It was just staying present, just focus on what I’m doing,” he said. “Just step up on 1 tee and I’m trying to hit the fairway. How am I going to hit the fairway and just execute that.
“It’s one of the hardest things to do. It’s just as much of a skill as it is being able to hit a wedge a certain distance or control your distance. I hadn’t done it that well in a round in a really long time, so I’m probably more proud of that than I am of the score today.”
Tom D’Angelo is a senior sports columnist and reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].
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