Justin Thomas has issued his verdict on the changes made to Harbour Town Golf Links as he prepares to defend his RBC Heritage title this week.
The tournament provided such an important moment in Thomas’ career this time last year. Heading out of The Masters, the two-time major champion had gone almost three years without a victory on the PGA Tour.
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The 32-year-old ended up winning in a playoff with Andrew Novak.
Having not won since then, Thomas will be hoping that history repeats itself over the coming days.
Justin Thomas comments on the changes made to Harbour Town ahead of the RBC Heritage
What may not help is that there have been changes made to Harbour Town ahead of this week.
Five-time champion of the RBC Heritage, Davis Love III has been involved in the renovations to one of the more memorable stops on the PGA Tour schedule.
Perhaps it is no surprise that Thomas did have reservations about the idea of changes being made to the golf course.
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However, speaking after a practice round, Thomas insisted that he is a big fan of what Love III has done with the venue.
Photo by Tracy Wilcox/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
“It’s great. I’ve only seen nine holes. I just played nine today. I’ll see the back nine tomorrow morning. Yeah, I think Davis and his team did a great job from what I can see. I think a lot of redoes or restorations, to be perfectly honest, I think they screw the course up pretty bad. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous a little bit about it,” he said.
“But knowing that Davis was doing this made me feel a lot better, one, because he is very good at this, but two, he isn’t going to completely change a golf course at a place that he loves like Harbour Town. I think he won here five times, and this golf course has been great to him. Anything that he was changing or doing was going to be very minor and for the better because a lot of what makes Harbour Town what it is, you need to keep, and that’s the doglegs, the small greens, the trees where they are.
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“From what I’ve seen so far, it is very, very subtle tweaks.”
How Justin Thomas has performed at the RBC Heritage throughout his career
Thomas’ win last year should not have come as a huge surprise given his record at the event throughout his career.
It is no secret that his driving can be a little erratic. That would normally not be a recipe for success around Harbour Town. Finding the fairway is so important to set up better opportunities to hit the smaller greens.
Nevertheless, Thomas has finished inside the top 11 four times in seven starts at the RBC Heritage.
He did have a tough time in 2016, finishing last of those who made the cut. Thomas’ week concluded with an 82 as he finished 17 over par.
He will hope that he gets a lot closer to replicating his result from last year rather than a decade ago.
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