Justin Thomas laments PGA Tour return at Arnold Palmer: ‘It sucks’ appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The PGA Tour is at Bay Hill Club & Lounge for the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week. The Signature Event features most of the world’s best golfers, including World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and fan-favorite Justin Thomas.
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While Scheffler seems to be in good form, as usual, Thomas was making his 2026 debut on Thursday. To say it did not go well would be an understatement.
The two-time major winner signed for a 7-over 79. His round was littered with six bogeys and two double-bogeys, as he is tied for dead last with Aldrich Potgieter and Pierceson Coody.
Afterwards, Thomas did not mince words when discussing his opening-round play.
“It kinda sucks, to be honest,” Thomas said.
“Obviously not how I expected it to go. But the rust aspect, kind of unfortunately, was a little bit of what I anticipated.
“It is what it is,” he said. “It got pretty dicey this afternoon. The greens had a bit of a Friday afternoon kind of feel to ‘em. But everybody else is out here playing the same place I am; they just played a lot better. So, yeah, go try to figure a couple of things out and just do better tomorrow.”
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The Arnold Palmer Invitational is one of the few signature events that retains a 36-hole cut. So, JT will be need to turn things around quickly if he wants to play the weekend. Only the top 50 plus ties will play after Friday.
But the two-time PGA Championship victor likely had higher hopes for this week.
Thomas had been ramping up his game, playing Tiger and Rory’s TGL for the Atlanta Drive in recent weeks. But there is clearly a lot of work to do.
“I putted terrible today. I had a hard time gauging the speed. But just a lot of little stuff. I could not keep my concentration for the life of me on the back nine. I just had a couple times I had to back off because I just would kind of walk into the shot and have no idea what I was even trying to do.”
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He’ll go out in the early wave Friday morning at 7:30 am ET for his second round.
Related: Jon Rahm responds to Rory McIlroy’s snipe amid PGA Tour, LIV Golf feud
Related: Scottie Scheffler happy with driver change despite Arnold Palmer Invitational struggles
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