Justin Thomas reveals key lessons for Ryder Cup teammates ending his victory drought
Justin Thomas' putts have attracted attention over the past few years, but there was a time with the two-time Grand Slam champions that helped him find the bottom of the Cup more often again.
Thomas rolled a 21-foot birdie putt in the first extra hole of Andrew Novak in Port Town, occupying the legacy of RBC. His previous win was at the 2022 PGA Championship, and since then, he needed a Ryder Cup draft pick, missed the FedExcup playoffs for the first time in his career and was not a Canadian Presidents Cup team.
However, now he is ranked sixth in the world, with another second position already in the semester, and his putter has been back on track. In 2023, he finished 135th because of his stroke: Last year, it was even worse (174), but he now hit 24th place – in Port Town, he opened at 61, and the 31-year-old ranked third on the green.
Part of his success comes down to a time spent with Ryder Cup teammate Xander Schauffele.
“Obviously, it’s a lot of time spent on work and time, but I called Xander late last year because I think he’s one of the best putts on fundamentals, not just putts.
“So he came out with me and he just asked me a lot of different questions. You guys obviously know Xander, but he won't let any box be left without any restrictions.
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Interestingly, it was more of Schauffele's questions than answers, which made Thomas think about the right approach on the Greens again.
“I was just talking to him about the process and how he reads the greens and how he sees things, his practice and everything, and honestly, he was just with him. He would ask something, and I was like, yes, I used to do that.
“The more I say, I think, I'm not doing anything I'm best. 2017-18. 2017-18, I'm very, very organized about what I do, and he's saying I have a family base, I don't have a family base, and I don't have a hometown. I did my thing, but my things are vague, and it's a very strange thing.
So despite his help, the more questions he asked me made me realize that I was basically trying and I was trying too many different things and I thought it was a serious, serious, serious trick to keep dealing with you doing well and not doing well and I didn’t work much, I think it was my foundation and checking.
Schauffele also helped Thomas release himself, now the 16th-time PGA Tour champion, entering FedEx's second place.
“It's the only part of golf, you can't really make the ball do things. If I don't play well, I can use the driver to add the first t-shirt, I can hit some kind of small low chip cut and try to push it forward, but if I don't know or feel good on the putter, if the left side of the putter is the left edge, then the rest is enough.
“I'm very artistic and feel in all the games, and I think once I start putting and putting, I'm going to be mechanical and robotic, that's not me. I call it Pro-Am Proting, when I obviously want to keep me from putting on a pro-am, but I often try to read and think of all of these things. Putting.”
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