CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Justin Thomas has positioned himself to turn back the clock at the PGA Championship.
The resurgent Thomas returns to Quail Hollow this week looking to recapture some of the magic from his first major victory at the 2017 PGA Championship when he posted a two-shot victory over Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen and Patrick Reed.
The 32-year-old Thomas finally appears to have his game back on track following a years-long slump.
He’s finished tied for second or better in three of his last four tournaments with a combined score of 41-under par, including a playoff win last month over Andrew Novak at the RBC Heritage that snapped a three-year winless drought on the PGA Tour.
The only tournament he hasn’t been competitive in over the last month was the Masters. He finished tied for 36th.
Still, it is one of Thomas’ best stretches of golf since 2016-17 when he became the fourth player behind Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth to win five times in the same season, including a major, before his 25th birthday.
“I’m just more patient, I’d say,” Thomas said of his recent improved play. “I don’t feel like I’m forcing the issue as much. Just trying to trust my game and myself quite a bit more. I feel like some of the events maybe earlier this year or last year where I had a chance to win, I just felt like maybe I pressed a little too much.”
While the memory of celebrating his first major on the 18th green at Quail Hollow eight years ago with his father Mike, then a PGA Tour professional at Harmony Landing in Louisville, Kentucky, and a former member of the PGA’s board of directors, will forever be etched in his memory, Thomas admitted there’s probably not much carryover from that to help him this week.
That tournament was played during the summer on what he called a “completely different golf course” with Bermuda grass versus overseed.
This one comes in the spring, with a course that will have absorbed several inches of rain by the time golfers tee off on Thursday, likely meaning that an already long course will play even longer.
“As much as I’d like to say (it matters), I think that’s a bit of a stretch,” Thomas said.
However, Thomas said his knowledge of the course and the confidence of knowing he can handle Quail Hollow’s difficult three closing holes known as the “Green Mile” could pay dividends if he’s near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday.
“If I’m coming down the stretch and trying to win the tournament, I can tell myself I’ve literally done this before here,” Thomas said. “I’ve hit the shots. I’ve made the putts. I’ve handled all of that mentally on this exact golf course in this exact tournament.”
It’s helpful, too, that the weight of a losing streak has been lifted from his shoulders.
The win at Harbour Town last month — his first since the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills — was something he called “the last thing I needed to do for my own well-being” and helped jettison him back into the top 10 in the world, while proving he’s capable of making big shots to close out a win.
He nearly pulled off another last week at the Truist Championship, but wound up tied for second after a late run at the leaders.
He’s in the right “head space,” and he appears set on reaching bigger goals ahead.
Thomas said watching Rory McIlroy clinch the career Grand Slam last month with a win at the Masters has ignited some competitive jealousy within him. Although he’s never won a major other than the PGA Championship, Thomas feels like it’s something he’s capable of accomplishing in his career.
“I have a lot of faith and a lot of ability — or trust in my ability,” Thomas said. “I have confidence in, I feel like, what I can do. Obviously I knew I always wanted to win the Grand Slam, wanted to win all the majors. For some reason watching somebody do it firsthand, it reminded me almost of, damn, I forgot, I really do want to do that.”
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