Justin Thomas had illegal club in his golf bag before The American Express tournament which he had to change

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The American Express proved to be another step in the right direction for Justin Thomas, with the 31-year-old finishing in second place in California, just two shots behind Sepp Straka.

Based on Justin Thomas‘ form over the last few months, it is slightly surprising that he is still awaiting his first win on the PGA Tour since 2022. He has come close at the ZOZO Championship and The American Express, while he led the Hero World Challenge heading into the final round in the Bahamas.

Thomas’ consistency remains a cause for a little concern. His approach play was flawless on Sunday on the Stadium Course, while his putter could hardly have been colder. Meanwhile, it was virtually the opposite during round three.

But it definitely appears that Thomas is on the right track to end that wait for a win before too long.

The change Justin Thomas had to make to his golf bag at The American Express

The two-time major champion definitely appears to have put the large majority of his struggles behind him. In fact, his performance is arguably all the more impressive because of a setback he was dealt in the days leading up to the tournament.

Speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman suggested that Thomas actually had to make a notable change to his bag after one of his clubs had been tested.

“He didn’t use [the longer driver] at Sentry. And it looked like his gamer this week, which actually, fun little fact, I always wish that this was published because I think that it’s always interesting what drivers don’t pass the test as far as going over the limits of what you’re allowed to have,” he said.

“There was a bunch of drivers that didn’t pass this week and JT’s was one of them, so he had to come up with a new driver on Tuesday.”

Revisiting when Bryson DeChambeau won the US Open with a brand new driver head

Thomas would have had absolutely no idea that the driver he had was non-conforming at that stage. And given the amount of equipment players at the top have access to, it is hard to imagine that it would have proved to have been a huge problem to sort a replacement.

But finding out that his club had failed tests ahead of the tournament is clearly far from ideal.

Of course, Bryson DeChambeau changed his driver head on the range before the final round of the US Open last year due to a crack in the face. And while he did get across the line at Pinehurst, he was not as accurate with the driver as he had been for most of the week, pushing several of his drives out to the right.

Perhaps situations like the one Thomas dealt with are a lot more common than most of us realise. But with his long game getting better and better gradually, it was a situation he could have done without.