Justin Thomas’ big problem is pointed out after what he did in the final round of The American Express is labelled ‘ridiculous’

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Justin Thomas continues to knock on the door when it comes to securing his first win on the PGA Tour since 2022, with the 31-year-old finishing second at The American Express this past week.

It has felt like a matter of time until Justin Thomas secures that long-awaited win on the PGA Tour. While he has had some really disappointing times over the last few years, there have been plenty of signs that suggest that he has turned a corner.

Thomas finished second at the ZOZO Championship after a frustrating final round on the greens. Meanwhile, he led going into Sunday at the Hero World Challenge before Scottie Scheffler put his foot on the accelerator in Albany.

It was an underwhelming result at The Sentry. But Thomas was back in contention at The American Express, as the two-time major champion looked to hunt down Sepp Straka.

The worry about Justin Thomas after his second place finish at The American Express

Unfortunately, he was unable to catch the Austrian. And there are one or two concerns that Thomas is still some way short of rediscovering his best form.

Thomas was absolutely lethal with his irons during the final round in California, giving himself numerous looks at birdie. However, he struggled to convert a number of those chances.

And when you consider how good Thomas’ putting was on Saturday, there are worries about his consistency. Speaking on The First Cut Podcast, Patrick McDonald insisted that there are real issues Thomas still needs to address in his game.

“My thing with JT is it seems like he struggles to piece the entirety of his game together. You could look at it from both ways. One, he didn’t really putt too great today and he almost had the round of the day – that’s ridiculous. And then, yesterday, he putted phenomenally. I believe he was top five in the field for strokes gained in putting, and he only shot four under. It felt like he could have squeezed more out of that,” he said.

“And then you look back to 2024 as a whole, and it was just a rollercoaster. It was just a rollercoaster all the time. His ceiling is still very high. I think his floor still needs to be raised a little bit to get over the hump, to turn that whatever it is, 68 yesterday into a 66 instead and potentially win. That’s the only thing.

“His game looks great, but it seems like sometimes, all the pieces don’t fall in line.”

Justin Thomas’ inconsistency causing concern

It is perhaps telling that while Thomas was tied for fifth for strokes gained across the week, he was outside the top 10 for each of the individual strokes gained metrics during the event.

He gained three shots on the field with his approach play during the final round, while he lost nearly a shot and a half in the same area on Saturday.

Meanwhile, he gained three strokes with his putting in round three, while he was 40th with the flat stick on Sunday.

Clearly, there is reason for optimism as the 2025 season really gets going. And it would almost be more alarming – given Thomas’ form in recent years – if everything was perfect at this stage of the year.

But it has to be cautious optimism at this point with Thomas enduring a number of false dawns since he lifted the PGA Championship in 2022.