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Justin Thomas

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Justin Thomas
Personal information
Full nameJustin Louis Thomas
Born (1993-04-29) April 29, 1993 (age 31)
Louisville, Kentucky
Height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st)
Sporting nationality United States
ResidenceGoshen, Kentucky
Career
CollegeAlabama
Turned professional2013
Current tour(s)PGA Tour
Former tour(s)Web.com Tour
Professional wins9
Highest ranking1 (May 13, 2018)[1]
(5 weeks)
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour8
Korn Ferry Tour1
Best results in major championships
(wins: 1)
Masters TournamentT17: 2018
PGA ChampionshipWon: 2017
U.S. OpenT9: 2017
The Open ChampionshipT53: 2016
Achievements and awards
Haskins Award2012
FedEx Cup Champion2017
PGA Tour
leading money winner		2017
PGA Player of the Year2017
PGA Tour
Player of the Year		2017

Justin Louis Thomas (born April 29, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and a former World Number One. In 2017, Thomas experienced a breakout year, winning four PGA Tour events, including the PGA Championship, his maiden major championship, and also winning the FedEx Cup championship. In May 2018, Thomas became the 21st player to top the Official World Golf Ranking.

Early years and education

Thomas was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to his junior year in high school, he played in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in August 2009 and became the third youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event at 16 years, 3 months and 24 days.[2] Thomas graduated from St. Xavier High School in 2011.[3]

Thomas played college golf at the University of Alabama, where he won six times for the Crimson Tide.[4] As a freshman in 2012, he won the Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. He was on the national championship team of 2013.[5]

Thomas' father, Mike Thomas, has been the head professional at the Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, since 1990.[6]

Professional career

Thomas turned professional in 2013 and earned his tour card on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school. He won his first professional event at the 2014 Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship.[7] Thomas finished fifth in the 2014 Web.com Tour regular season, and third after the Web.com Tour Finals, and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2015 season. In 2015, Thomas collected seven top-10s and 15 top-25s, with fourth-place finishes at the Quicken Loans National and Sanderson Farms Championship as his best results. He finished 32nd at the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, losing the Rookie of the Year award to Daniel Berger.

On November 1, 2015, Thomas earned his first victory on the PGA Tour by winning the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by a single stroke over Adam Scott. He overcame a double bogey on the 14th hole during the final round and holed a six-foot (1.8 m) par putt to claim the win by a stroke. Thomas had earlier shot a course record 61 during the second round to contribute to a 26-under-par winning score.[8]

2016–17 PGA Tour: five wins, first major, FedEx Cup champion, Player of the Year

Thomas successfully defended his title at the CIMB Classic in October 2016 for his second tour win.

Thomas won the SBS Tournament of Champions in January 2017 for his third PGA Tour win.[9]

In the following week's tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii, Thomas became the seventh player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. During the first round, he opened his round with an eagle and needed to make an eagle on the ninth, his last hole of the day, to shoot 59.[10] He became the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 round. Thomas finished with rounds of 64, 65, and 65 to win the tournament by 7 strokes. He set tournament records for 18, 36, 54, and 72 holes (59, 123, 188, and 253, respectively). He set PGA Tour records at 36 and 72 holes and tied the 54-hole record.[11]

Hole 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Out 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 In Total
Par 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 35 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 5 35 70
Score 2 4 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 29 3 3 4 2 4 4 3 4 3 30 59

During the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Thomas equalled the U.S. Open single-round record of 63. He eagled the last hole by hitting his 3-wood to 8 feet on the par-5 hole to finish at 9-under-par, also a U.S. Open record, passing the previous record held by Johnny Miller at Oakmont Country Club. In the fourth round, he played alongside Brian Harman in the final grouping, the first time he had done that in a major championship. He shot a three-over-par 75 and finished in a tie for ninth place.

In August 2017, Thomas won his first major, the 2017 PGA Championship, winning by two shots.[12]

At the Dell Technologies Championship, Thomas became just the fourth golfer to win five times, including a major, in a PGA Tour season since 1960 before his 25th birthday, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth.[13][14]

After finishing runner-up to Xander Schauffele at the Tour Championship, Thomas became the FedEx Cup champion on September 24, 2017.[15]

2017–18 PGA Tour

In October 2017, Thomas won the third event of the 2017–18 season, the CJ Cup in South Korea. He defeated Marc Leishman with a birdie on the second extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. The win was Thomas' seventh on the PGA Tour.[16]

In February 2018, Thomas won for the eighth time on tour, claiming victory at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He birdied the final hole of regulation play to make a playoff with Luke List. Then on the first extra hole, Thomas made birdie again on the same hole, after a brilliant 5-wood from the fairway. List could not hole his birdie putt, after the missing the green to the right, resulting in Thomas winning the tournament. The win lifted Thomas to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and number three in world rankings.[17]

The following week, Thomas lost in a sudden-death playoff to Phil Mickelson, at the WGC-Mexico Championship. He had been even par for the tournament after the first two rounds, but then shot 62-64 over the weekend for a total of 16 under par. This included a remarkable finish to his final round, when he holed his second shot to the 18th for eagle. Thomas lost the playoff to par, after going over the back of the green in the first extra hole and failing to up and down for par. Thomas moved to number two in the world rankings, a career best ranking.

Thomas had another chance to claim the top spot in the world later on in March at the WGC-Match Play, but he was beaten 3 & 2 by Bubba Watson in the semi-finals. He then went on to lose the consolation match 5 & 3 to Alexander Norén to finish in fourth place. The result extended his lead at the top of the FedEx Cup standings and reduced the gap on the world number one, Dustin Johnson.

After the 2018 Players Championship, Thomas replaced Johnson as the world number one golfer, but he lost that ranking to Johnson after Dustin won the 2018 FedEx St. Jude Classic.

Amateur wins (2)

Professional wins (9)

PGA Tour wins (8)

Legend
Major championships (1)
FedEx Cup playoff event (1)
Other PGA Tour events (6)
No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 Nov 1, 2015 CIMB Classic 68-61-67-66=262 −26 1 stroke Australia Adam Scott
2 Oct 23, 2016 CIMB Classic (2) 64-66-71-64=265 −23 3 strokes Japan Hideki Matsuyama
3 Jan 8, 2017 SBS Tournament of Champions 67-67-67-69=270 −22 3 strokes Japan Hideki Matsuyama
4 Jan 15, 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii 59-64-65-65=253 −27 7 strokes England Justin Rose
5 Aug 13, 2017 PGA Championship 73-66-69-68=276 −8 2 strokes Italy Francesco Molinari, South Africa Louis Oosthuizen,
United States Patrick Reed
6 Sep 4, 2017 Dell Technologies Championship 71-67-63-66=267 −17 3 strokes United States Jordan Spieth
7 Oct 22, 2017 CJ Cup 63-74-70-72=279 −9 Playoff Australia Marc Leishman
8 Feb 25, 2018 The Honda Classic 67-72-65-68=272 −8 Playoff United States Luke List

PGA Tour playoff record (2–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 2017 CJ Cup Australia Marc Leishman Won with birdie on second extra hole
2 2018 The Honda Classic United States Luke List Won with birdie on first extra hole
3 2018 WGC-Mexico Championship United States Phil Mickelson Lost to par on first extra hole

Web.com Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score To par Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 Sep 14, 2014 Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship 67-69-72-70=278 −6 Playoff South Africa Richard Sterne

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year Championship 54 holes Winning score Margin Runners-up
2017 PGA Championship 2 shot deficit −8 (73-66-69-68=276) 2 strokes Italy Francesco Molinari, South Africa Louis Oosthuizen, United States Patrick Reed

Results timeline

Tournament 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Masters Tournament T39 T22 T17
U.S. Open CUT T32 T9
The Open Championship T53 CUT
PGA Championship T18 T66 1
  Win
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 3
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 2
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
PGA Championship 1 0 0 1 1 2 3 3
Totals 1 0 0 1 2 5 11 9
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2015 PGA – 2017 U.S. Open)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2015 2016 2017 2018
Mexico Championship T35 T5 2
Match Play T61 T39 4
Bridgestone Invitational T33 T28
HSBC Champions T27 T23
  Top 10
  Did not play

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = tied

PGA Tour career summary

Season Starts Cuts
made		 Wins
(majors)		 2nd 3rd Top-10 Best
finish		 Earnings
($)		 Money
list rank		 Scoring
avg (adj)		 Scoring
rank
2009 1 1 0 0 0 0 T78 n/a – 70.56
2012 1 1 0 0 0 0 T46 n/a – 69.38
2013 2 1 0 0 0 0 T30 n/a – 69.57
2014 7 3 0 0 0 1 T10 170,237 – 71.39
2015 30 23 0 0 0 7 T4 2,278,564 37[18] 70.10 16[19]
2016 28 22 1 0 4 7 1 4,126,366 11[20] 70.57 47[21]
2017 25 19 5 (1) 1 0 12 1 9,921,560 1[22] 69.36 3[23]
2018 13 12 2 1 0 5 1 5,523,800 1[24] 69.31 2[25]
Career* 107 82 8 (1) 2 4 32 1 22,020,526 59[26]

*As of May 21, 2018.[3]

U.S. national team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

References

  1. ^ "Week 19 2018 Ending 13 May 2018" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  2. ^ Milne, Doug (August 21, 2009). "Wyndham Championship: Round 2 notebook". PGA Tour.
  3. ^ a b "Justin Thomas". PGA Tour.
  4. ^ "2013–14 Alabama Men's Golf Media Guide" (PDF). Alabama Crimson Tide. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 18, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Alabama wins 1st men's golf title". ESPN. Associated Press. June 2, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  6. ^ Wacker, Brian (January 15, 2017). "Justin Thomas, Golf Prodigy, Collects Wins and Waits for His Chance to Catch Up". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 13, 2017.
  7. ^ "Justin Thomas wins Nationwide". ESPN. Associated Press. September 14, 2014.
  8. ^ "Justin Thomas earns maiden tour title at CIMB Classic". PGA Tour. Associated Press. November 1, 2015.
  9. ^ "Justin Thomas closes with 4-under 69, wins Tournament of Champions". ESPN. Associated Press. January 9, 2017.
  10. ^ "Eagle on final hole gives Justin Thomas 59 at Sony Open". ESPN. Associated Press. January 12, 2017.
  11. ^ "Justin Thomas caps off record week with trophy at Sony Open". ESPN. Associated Press. January 16, 2017.
  12. ^ Murray, Ewan (August 14, 2017). "Justin Thomas wins US PGA and confirms years of potential". The Guardian. Retrieved August 14, 2017.
  13. ^ Hoggard, Rex (September 4, 2017). "Thomas tops Spieth in latest battle between buddies". Golf Channel.
  14. ^ Inglis, Martin (September 5, 2017). "Justin Thomas joins Jack, Tiger & Spieth after Dell Technologies win". bunkered.
  15. ^ Murray, Ewan (September 24, 2017). "Justin Thomas completes remarkable season with $10m FedEx Cup win". The Guardian. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  16. ^ "Justin Thomas birdies second hole of playoff to win CJ Cup". ESPN. Associated Press. October 22, 2017.
  17. ^ "Justin Thomas wins Honda Classic playoff". ESPN. Associated Press. March 1, 2018.
  18. ^ "2015 Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  19. ^ "2015 Scoring Average Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  20. ^ "2016 Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  21. ^ "2016 Scoring Average Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  22. ^ "2017 Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  23. ^ "2017 Scoring Average Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  24. ^ "2018 Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  25. ^ "2018 Scoring Average Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  26. ^ "Career Money Leaders". PGA Tour. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
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