Justin Thomas was the last name to make the Tour Championship field, and the two-time major winner has revealed how he found out about his place in the FedEx Cup top 30.
The American finished near the bottom of the leaderboard at last week’s BMW Championship. After the conclusion of his round, Thomas jetted straight home to Florida, and a nervous wait ensued.
Thomas has now revealed that golf commentator Smylie Kaufman played an essential role in relaying information whilst he was airborne.
Justin Thomas shares what Smylie Kaufman told him after the BMW Championship
Speaking after his first round at East Lake, where he carded an impressive five-under 66, Thomas admitted Kaufman was texting him on his way back from Denver.
“Yeah, Smiley was calling the past couple groups, and I hope I don’t get him in trouble, he was texting me live updates because wifi wasn’t great,” Thomas said. “He was sending me pictures of lies, telling me what was going on. I have Smiley to thank a lot for the updates.”
The 31-year-old then explained how he found out about his spot in the FedEx Cup top 30.
“A lot of people needed to play well for me to not get in because of how poorly I played. We took off around 1:00 and 1:30, and my parents, Rev, and my trainer, Kolby, were flying home. I told my parents because I knew they would be looking nonstop. I was like, we’re not talking about it. Don’t even look at it. You can look at it, but just don’t talk about it,” Thomas added.
“Rev didn’t want anything to do with it. I couldn’t help myself. I was looking nonstop. I knew when I left for the airport or took off that there was a 94% chance of being in, so I felt good about that.
“Then to get my mind off it just started playing cards with my dad and felt like literally ever time I opened my phone it was getting worse and worse and worse and people kept making birdies that need to not make birdies.”
Thomas then confirmed that he knew he was in the Tour Championship around 30 minutes before his return flight landed.
“A couple nervous beers turned into a couple angry beers because looked like I wasn’t going to get in. I was bummed,” the American said.
“Like I said, there were just so many people that needed to finish in the Top 5 or 6 to really hurt me that — I’m never rooting against people, but maybe not rooting for them is probably the right way to say it. So, yeah, probably 30, 40 minutes before we landed, we knew I was good.”
Justin Thomas looking to take advantage of East Lake lifeline in Atlanta
Thomas produced one of the eye-catching rounds on day one and could be set for a nice payday after just making the field.
The American sat tied for 14th after the first round after starting at level par. Unfortunately, despite his efforts, the two-time PGA Championship winner is a considerable distance behind Scottie Scheffler.
As the tournament progresses, Thomas shouldn’t be written off. He boasts one of the all-time great East Lake records and knows exactly how to score well in Atlanta.
It could well take one of Thomas, Xander Schauffele or Rory McIlroy to produce some Atlanta fireworks to really threaten Scheffler’s tilt at the Tour Championship title.
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