Justin Thomas Gives Honest Take on Winning After Ending Nearly Three-Year Title Drought

Thomas won the RBC Heritage on Sunday, his first tournament win in almost three years.
Justin Thomas celebrates winning the 2025 RBC Heritage.
Justin Thomas celebrates winning the 2025 RBC Heritage. / Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

It took Justin Thomas two years, 10 months and 29 days to enter back into the PGA Tour's winning circle. That drought ended on Sunday when he captured the title at the RBC Heritage in a playoff win over Andrew Novak.

Thomas last won on the PGA Tour in May 2022 when he captured his second career PGA Championship trophy. In that span of not holding a trophy, Thomas learned just how much he missed winning. He gave an honest quote after his win about how he's been able to keep his head held high.

"Winning's hard, it's really, really hard," Thomas told CBS's Amanda Balionis after his win. "I've worked my butt off, stayed patient, stayed positive. Got a great wife, great team, have a great daughter. ... You just take for granted sometimes when you get on those runs, and I didn't realize how much I missed winning."

Thomas was also able to earn a winner's paycheck for the first time in nearly three years as he won a whopping $3.6 million on Sunday.

Maybe this win is what Thomas needed to go on another victorious streak in his career. His best career streak came in 2017 when he won five PGA Tour titles, including his first major in the PGA Championship. He'll have a chance to win his third PGA Championship next month at Quail Hollow, where he happened to win the title in '17.


More on Sports Illustrated

feed


Published
Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.