But when Justin Thomas indicates that he’s around, you should pay attention to what he says. The 30-year-old Thomas’s wins have been coming slowly over the past few seasons; in fact, he did not add to his already impressive 15 PGA TOUR victories. However, his swing is starting to gain confidence again, and he appears to be getting involved in important events.Thomas is participating in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week for the first time since 2014, adding strength to an already strong field as the tournament moves to an 80-man, enhanced Signature Event ; the second such elevated event of the season. Thomas was just a young man figuring things out in 2014. He missed the 54-hole cut with a score of 70-72-75. Apart from the U.S. Open in 2019, he hadn’t returned. He adores Pebble’s beauty and the neighbouring Spyglass Hill, but for the past few seasons, it just didn’t work out with his early-year schedule.Pebble is a must-visit location this week for a million reasons, including the money.
At Pebble Beach, Thomas answered on Friday with a round of 5-under 67 in calm, soft conditions. At 9-under 135 , he entered the weekend’s leaderboard. His game began explosively with a 40-foot chip-in birdie on the 1st hole, and it concluded with a lovely pitch to 6 feet that set up a birdie at the storied 18 par-5 hole. He spent a lot of time lounging and making “almosts” during his round , he once made 10 straight pars but he still managed to score rather well. A year ago, this would have been a significant difficulty, but the card was clean.”I have my game where I want it. My goal is to constantly improve. I’m performing well enough to prevail. Right now, I’m just trying to get there more frequently. As I mentioned at my press conference earlier this week, I mean, it’s difficult to win competitions when you tee off three hours ahead of the leader, which is exactly what I did a lot of the previous year.” stated Thomas whose previous four starts have resulted in 3 top-five finishes, including third at The American Express.
In contrast, he participated in 21 events last season and never placed higher than fourth.Breaking all the poor habits that had crept into his swing over the previous few of seasons is still one of Thomas’ best habits these days. He mostly collaborates with his father Mike, an outstanding educator, but he also immerses himself in his work, avidly viewing old iPad footage of himself when he was in better, winning shape.For him, last season was humble. Thomas put in a lot of effort throughout the tape, but he was unable to move on to the FedExCup Playoffs with a T12 at the season’s last event (Wyndham Championship). Thomas’s confidence was bolstered when Captain Zach Johnson added him to the U.S. Ryder Cup squad that would play in Italy.
Thomas is confident that he will eventually win tournaments once more, and that this will be a reward for all of his hard work.”I’m really near. It’s almost time to start winning tournaments again, in my opinion. I feel like I’m on the verge of doing it and getting back into the habit of doing it more frequently. However, I am well aware that just because you believe that, it doesn’t necessarily imply you deserve it or that it will occur. All I have to do is keep placing myself in that situation and competing. That’s what I believe I did so frequently there for a few years. It was nice to play with The American Express, my first final group in a while on Sunday.” he said.This week at Pebble Beach, he intends to accomplish the same. Everything is going good so far. He’s doing the best he can, but the golf course’s soft conditions may be a daunting battle. He hit a 9-iron approach that pitched on the green and spun 11 yards back, away from the hole location, at the par-4 11th. It didn’t seem like a barrier to him. Instead, he decides to see it as a chance to express his creativity.Although Thomas’s season has only counted for a small sample size so far, he is proud of the golf he is producing. He views it as more like “me” golf that is, Justin Thomas golf and it has regularly proven to be a successful recipe.All I need to do is keep putting in the work on Sunday, and it will happen.I know that I can shoot 8, 9, 10, or 11-under at any time throughout a 72-hole event by depending on my wedge game and short game, as well as by playing strategically and patiently. All I can do is attempt to wait patiently and hope for that outcome.At Pebble on Friday, Thomas had made progress.
