Weary Thomas back at it
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 past 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.
Tim Clark is coming up on the two-year anniversary since he last played on the PGA Tour at the 2016 CareerBuilder Challenge. Instead of taking a major medical extension, he is using a one-time exemption for being among the top 50 in career money (No. 47). Also using a onetime exemption for top 50 in career money is two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who is No. 26 in career money. Goosen, who turns 49 in February, narrowly kept his card for last season.
Ernie Els (No. 5) and K.J. Choi (No. 25) are using one-time exemptions for top 25 on the career money list. Els, who turns 48 next week, can still use the onetime exemption for top 50.
SERGIO CHANGING CLUBS >>
Sergio Garcia is playing the next two weeks, and there’s sure to be more attention than usual on what clubs he has in the bag. The Masters champion is a free agent.
Garcia and TaylorMade Golf announced a mutual release from the rest of his contract.
THREE-PEATS >>
Thomas is going for a third straight victory at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, and that’s just the start. Over the next 12 months, Thomas will be among five players trying to win the same tournament three years in a row.
Hideki Matsuyama has won the last two years at the Phoenix Open at the start of February. Daniel Berger is a back-to-back winner at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He’ll get his chance in June. A month later, Jhonattan Vegas goes for three in a row at the RBC Canadian Open. And Brendan Steele won the Safeway Open on Sunday for the second straight year to start the season.