PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Justin Thomas just finished beating himself up once again for his putting woes before he walked to the practice area with his dad/coach, Mike, and caddie, Jimmy Johnson.
For about 30 minutes, he worked on his irons, his driver and, finally, his putting.
“If I’m putting well this week, I’m winning this tournament without question,” Justin said.
It’s about here you might expect to read the No. 2 golfer in the world melted down Saturday at the Valspar Championship. Maybe rushed a couple of gimmes or finished with a couple of double bogeys on two of the final three holes like the only golfer ahead of him in the world rankings, Dustin Johnson, did Saturday.
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But Thomas carded a 4-under 67 despite a bogey on No. 18 and is 6 under entering the final round, eight shots behind leaders Bradley Keegan and Sam Burns. Though frustrated at the score and giving away strokes on the green – he was 154th of 156 golfers in strokes gained putting Friday – he did admit the game was not a total disaster.
“I’m not pleased with the score the third day in a row. I’m playing way better than I’m scoring, which is frustrating,” he said. “But also a little reassuring that if I can just finally start making some putts I feel like I can play well.
“I know if I drive it well, I can go shoot 9-, 10-under out here. I know I can. I just got to get the putter rolling. I got to be able to make some putts.”
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Though still not up to his standards, it was better Saturday than Friday when Thomas was heard expressing his frustration on and around the green with some language as colorful as the Valspar paint signs that dot the Copperhead Course.
For a few holes Saturday, it appeared Thomas was following the blueprint that resulted in his first Players Championship in March. There he started with a pair of 71s before making his move on Saturday with a 64. This week, Thomas was tied for 41st entering Saturday and after playing Nos. 9-14 in 4-under – including an eagle on the par-5 No. 11 where his putter came through and he made a 14-footer – he was just outside the top 10.
But that bogey on No. 18 when he could not get up and down after his second shot found in a bunker, derailed that storyline.
“It’s never a good taste in your mouth when you bogey 18,” Thomas said.
So, off to the practice area they went, to get that taste out of Justin’s mouth. And his dad was the reassuring voice. Mike recorded a couple of Justin’s swings and the two would analyze them immediately after.
“He was hitting it nice,” Mike Thomas said. “He just wanted to confirm a couple of things. … He just wanted to see some putts go in the hole.
“All these guys are hard on themselves. That’s what makes them good.”
Thomas is playing for the first time since finishing 21st at the Masters. The two-week break was more mental than anything, something he says he builds into the calendar each year to decompress from a stressful week, break up the season at what is close to the midway point, and gear up for a stretch of three majors in two months.
“I probably wanted it more than I needed it,” he said. “I’m just not in the physical or mental state to be able to play a golf tournament after the grind the week of Augusta. Taking two weeks off was nice. I like to just get away.”
That getaway included a reunion of the Spring Break Crew – Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Smylie Kaufman – in Nashville. The four would post videos back in the day of their trips. That was before they started settling down. Now, all but Thomas now are married.
“We got the band back together, if you will,” said Thomas, who lives on the same street as Fowler in Jupiter, Florida. “We don’t get to spend that quality time away from a golf tournament really ever. It’s like let’s go hang out and do whatever we want all day. We just want to relax and just be the high 20s, 30-year olds … just laugh, listen to music, just do stuff that we wish we could do but with our busy schedules we aren’t able to.”
And not worry about how to fix your putting … at least for a few days.
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