You come at the king, you best not miss.
That’s the moral of the story told by Justin Thomas in his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday at East Lake Golf Club where, in 2017, he was crowned FedEx Cup champion after finishing second in the Tour Championship but at the top of the season-long standings — a fitting end to the best year of Thomas’ career in which he racked up six wins.
But there’s another moment that sticks out in Thomas’ mind when he looks back on his time spent at the famed course that sits five miles east of downtown Atlanta, and it isn’t a moment that was witnessed by the masses.
Asked what his favorite East Lake memory was outside of hoisting the FedEx Cup in 2017, Thomas recalled a hilarious interaction with arguably the game’s greatest player: Tiger Woods.
“Probably my best memory, and I couldn’t even tell you what year it was, it was probably — I guess it would have been 2020,” Thomas said. “I remember playing here, playing a practice round and walking down 18 and FaceTiming Tiger, because he wasn’t here and didn’t qualify, just showing him how the course was and how great it was.
“Then, he acted like his phone cut out and then he called me back two minutes later with green jacket on. I remember that very, very, very vividly. Just a typical conversation of thinking I am having some kind of upper edge, and I get shut down and put in my place pretty quickly.
“There’s a lot of golf things here and there that have obviously happened, but that’s the first thing that came to mind when you said that.”
There’s no comeback for that one. Touché, Tiger.
The friendship between Thomas and Woods is well-documented.
They live near each other in Jupiter, Florida, often playing golf together both in their free time and during practice rounds at PGA Tour events. Woods hasn’t competed in more than a calendar year, though. The two have been seen having laughs and taking jabs at each other on the golf course numerous times throughout their careers (You might remember the time at Riviera Country Club during the Genesis Invitational in 2023 when Woods outdrove Thomas and tried to covertly hand him a certain feminine hygiene product).
Thomas is also a member of the TGL, an indoor golf league started by Woods and Rory McIlroy that will begin its second season in December.
Entering this week’s 2025 Tour Championship — the last of three legs in the FedEx Cup Playoffs — Thomas is in search of his second win this season. He defeated Andrew Novak in a playoff at the RBC Heritage back in April and followed it up with a T-2 finish at the Truist Championship in his next start a few weeks later.
He became a popular pick in the majors that followed shortly thereafter, but his major season didn’t feature anything to write home about. Thomas missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open before finishing T-34 at the Open Championship.
He’ll look to right the ship at East Lake and finish the PGA Tour season on a high note before turning his attention to the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Bryson DeChambeau narrowly edged out Thomas for the sixth and final automatic spot on the Team USA roster, but he finished in seventh and figures to be near the top of Keegan Bradley’s list to be one of the six captain’s picks.
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