Thomas at home on Asia courses
Eight starts, three wins in PGA Tour events
After finishing in a tie for third in the Frys.com Open to begin the 2015-16 wraparound season, Justin Thomas was sitting in a restaurant in San Jose International Airport and talking about a long journey ahead.
After a brief stop at his Florida home, he’d head to Asia for the first time seeking his first PGA Tour title. Coming off a rookie campaign that included seven
top-10 finishes and falling one shot short of a playoff in the season opener, Thomas was feeling good about his game.
But another destination was on his mind.
“I want to get to Maui,” Thomas said at the time, referring to earning his way into the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
Two weeks later, Thomas was booking a flight to the Aloha State after winning the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, setting tournament records with his 26-under-par 262 total and his course-record 61 in the second round. While he loves Maui, his affinity for Asia quickly took hold.
Thomas returned to Malaysia the following year and won the CIMB Classic again. In his bid to three-peat in 2017, he finished in a tie for 17th. Last weekend, he tied for fifth and has broken par in each of the 16 rounds he’s played in the CIMB Classic.
Thomas also has tied for 23rd and
27th in the World Golf ChampionshipsHSBC Champions in Shanghai the past two years, and he finished in a tie for fourth in the 2016 Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan.
And this week, he’s defending his title in the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in Jeju Island, Korea. Thomas won the inaugural CJ Cup last year, defeating Marc Leishman in a playoff.
That’s an impressive Asia stat line: eight starts, three wins, two other top-10s. The 2017 PGA Tour player of the year and PGA Championship winner is seeking his 10th Tour title.
Thomas can’t pinpoint why, exactly, he plays so well in Asia. He likes the food, especially steak at Nobu and his favorite go-to fare pizza. Likes the cities and especially Jeju Island, one of the jewels off the coast of the Korean Peninsula. He can still watch or follow his beloved Alabama Crimson Tide play football despite the 12- or 13-hour time difference. The weather’s not too bad.
And there’s a sense of urgency for the No. 4 player in the world.
“I always feel it’s important to play in the fall because you don’t want to get too far behind” in the race to the FedExCup, Thomas said. “It would be great to take two or three months off and not play any golf, but these are courses and places I obviously enjoy coming to and I’ve had success at.”
And he gets a jump-start on achieving his goals for the new season. In a Oct. 4 post on Instagram, Thomas revealed 14 goals he hoped to achieve last season. He accomplished seven of them, including becoming No. 1 in the world, winning a tournament (he won three) and making the U.S. Ryder Cup team. The seven where he fell short, including making every cut and winning a major, will drive him this season.
Thomas is keeping this year’s goals to himself and his team, but he did share one that deals with the longest club in his bag.
“If I can improve my driving accuracy just by a little bit. You know, hit one or two more fairways a round or even if I average one more fairway a round, it doesn’t seem like a lot, but over the grand scheme of things over the course of a year that’s a big deal,” Thomas said. “I feel like I can get better in every aspect of my game. I struck the ball beautifully last year, my iron game was very good I would say in terms of statistically, but my short game can always get better, my driving can always get better, my putting can always get better.”
He’s in the right part of the world to do just that.