One Week After ‘Humiliating’ Last-Place Finish, Justin Thomas Stamps His Name on Players Championship Leaderboard

Thomas is playing in just his second event since returning from offseason back surgery, and he looked comfortable at an event he’s won before, writes Bob Harig.

Justin Thomas shot a 68 in his opening round at the Players. | Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla — Justin Thomas was willing to cut himself some slack. He went nearly six months without a competitive round and was taking things slowly after November back surgery.

Still, a couple of 79s last week at Bay Hill didn’t sit well. Finishing dead last at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, 14 over par and missing the cut by 12 shots in a performance he called “humiliating,” was not exactly what he envisioned, even if he expected some rough patches as he sought to regain his game.

That’s why Thursday’s 68 in the opening round of the Players Championship came as a relief.

“Just feels great to get off to a great start at a big tournament, a tournament that I love,” Thomas said after a final-hole birdie at the par-5 9th. “I always enjoy playing this place. I just feel like it's just a fun course to play.

“I feel like you can, given the different wind conditions or whatever, you have a lot of variety of shots and things that Sawgrass kind of asks of you. I can't necessarily say I've been playing well because last week was my first tournament in six months, but I felt I was more than capable of doing that.

“But just was able to knock a little bit of rust off last—a lot of rust off last week, and obviously felt a lot more comfortable today.”

Thomas finished a shot behind leaders Lee Hodges, Maverick McNealy, Sepp Straka and Sahith Theegala at the place where he won the 2021 Players Championship. (Austin Smotherman was also at 5 under needing to finish the 18th on Friday morning.)

Thomas was grouped with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler on Thursday, and beat him by four shots. | Jeff Romance-Imagn Images

The two-time major champion, who has 16 PGA Tour victories, made six birdies, including each of his first three holes, after starting at the 10th. His only bogeys came at the 17th and 18th holes.

He returned last week after a microdiscectomy to deal with a herniated disk in early November.

“Man, it helps. I kind of had a deep breath to myself walking off 9 and even, like I said, internally, I needed that,” he said. “Just to—again, I feel like I've been playing well at home. I feel like I'm doing the right thing swinging well. I feel confident with things. But again, until it happens in competition, it's kind of hard to fully buy into you're ready.

“I think that was kind of what I said last week. My main goal is getting through these weeks and really feeling like I'm not having to try so hard to be in a good place at Augusta (for the Masters).

“I think yes, I know that I want to try and play well and try and win these next couple events, but it's also going to be harder for me to probably continue to focus and keep my concentration this week versus a couple weeks. Just all part of it.”

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