Everybody knew he was good, and when he earned some luck on No. 10 at the PGA Championship, Justin Thomas began to look like the major champion we predicted he would be, sooner rather than later.
We weren’t alone in the world noticing Thomas, 24, back in January after he won the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua:
1-8 update: Justin Thomas, the winner here, is not in the “who’s he” category, but neither is he in the conversation with your Spieths and your Days and your DJs … yet.
He won the next week in Hawaii, too, riding a first-round 59 to a seven-stroke victory at the Sony Open.
It’s tough to win on the PGA Tour, tougher yet to win in consecutive weeks, but Thomas did it in the first two weeks of January. Maybe when he wins a major this year (you read it here first) he’ll fit in the conversation with the Days and Spieths and DJs.
Or maybe he’ll fade back into the field … but nobody much believes that. Last weekend at the Sony Open, he was sticking his irons, and he has another virtue in his game that will keep him around: The little fucker hits it a long ways.
Thomas tied for 22nd at the Masters, and before the U.S. Open at Erin Hills, we wrote:
If you don’t get money down on Justin Thomas, at least keep one eye on him. A title in Erin would be his fourth win of the year and his first major.
A Sunday 75 playing in the final group after a Saturday 63 dropped Thomas to a T9 at Erin, and he missed the cut at Royal Birkdale. So would the early-season meteor flame out in all four majors?
His drive on 10 today hit a tree on the left and bounded into the fairway. His birdie putt there hung on the lip and hung on the lip … for 10 seconds, and then dropped.
So maybe he was lucky, and we already knew he was good. Is it better to be lucky than good? As a sage old soul said to me on the golf course last week, it’s better yet to be both.
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