EXPECTATIONS HIGH FOR GOLFER THOMAS
He’s coming off five wins, first major
Justin Thomas embarks on a sequel to his sensational year.
The sequel is never easy. Making it even more difficult on Justin Thomas is that he had two days between accepting the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour player of the year and getting on a plane for Malaysia to start a new season.
He has won the last two times at the CIMB Classic. His expectations are lower this year for appropriate reasons.
Thomas hasn’t had time to catch his breath, much less exhale, following a frenetic and fabulous end to his season. He closed with a 66 at the Tour Championship to capture the fedex Cup, and then he flew straight to New York for his debut in the Presidents Cup, where he went 3-1-1 in a resounding American victory.
“It’s going to be a little bit different this year, just in terms of everything that’s happened and kind of the lack of preparation I’ll probably get as opposed to years prior,” Thomas said last week.
He will make one more stop next week in South Korea for the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges before a five-week break to digest and reassess.
A year ago, Thomas had one victory in his 64 starts as a pro on the PGA Tour. He was No. 35 in the world and still being referred to as “Jordan Spieth’s friend” whenever he was shown on TV.
Now he’s trying to figure out how high to set the bar.
Along with five victories and his first major, the 24-year-old Thomas burnished his reputation for explosive scoring with a 59 and the 72-hole scoring record on the PGA Tour during his seven-shot victory at the Sony Open, and a 63 at the U.S. Open. Along the way, he staked his claim to being a key figure in the one of the deepest youth movements golf has ever seen.
Competition figures to be strong as ever.
Spieth, who is three months younger than Thomas, already has three legs of the career Grand Slam among his 11 tour victories.
Do not overlook Rory McIlroy, who only seems old at 28. Hideki Matsuyama, 25, briefly had the lead on Sunday at the PGA Championship. He was that close to being talked about the way Thomas is now.
Winning player of the year was not among the goals Thomas wrote down at the start of last season, and it probably won’t be on this year’s list. It’s a byproduct of great play, and sometimes even that isn’t enough.
“I know how hard it is to do because of how deep the tour is right now and how many great players there are and how guys are winning three, four, five times a year every year,” he said. “And it’s something that’s going to be tough to replicate. But I’m definitely going to give it my best.”