Thomas on mental game

Ranked No. 7 in the world, Justin Thomas will launch his latest collaboration with Ralph Lauren at this week’s U.S. Open.

It emphasizes modern, tailored looks and features to enhance his performance such as polo shirts with open sleeves and pants with a tapered leg and elastic in the back for stretch.

Golfweek caught up with Thomas recently at Ralph Lauren’s headquarters in New York.

❚ On the importance of looking good and feeling good during tournaments: You just have to be comfortable in your own skin and what you’re doing. Inner confidence and your demeanor on the golf course is so important. I think any advantage you can have or anything you can do to make sure you’re high as you can be mentally, it is very important.

❚ On how Pebble sets up: “Pebble’s not long; it’s very short to where you have to hit the fairway, you have to have control of your ball going into the green, good short game. You have to be on in all areas of your game but not make the mental mistakes that you can’t do in majors.”

❚ On how he uses social media to communicate with fans: “I want to be able to walk on the street and see someone that’s a fan of me and him to know the kind of person I am because of what I put on social media, the stuff I say in interviews and the way I conduct myself. I want him to feel like he knows me. … I’m also still young; I use it for finding my information out or messing with friends. There’s a lot of people who think they know what’s going on, but they don’t. Yesterday I was talking about the wind. It always bothers me how it’s windy and the (TV) announcers, it’s never talked about how hard it is to putt and how much the wind affects the ball. Some of those putts that are ‘terrible’ aren’t that ‘terrible.’ ”