Like Rory McIlroy the previous week at the Players Championship, Justin Thomas squandered a three-shot lead down the back nine on Sunday at the Valspar Championship.
Unfortunately for Justin Thomas, he was unable to still get across the line as Rory McIlroy eventually managed to do at TPC Sawgrass. Viktor Hovland made birdie on both 16 and 17 to win the Valspar Championship by one.
It has been a familiar story for Thomas over the last couple of years. He has finished in the top three on on four occasions since the 2024 Tour Championship, with two runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour in 2025 alone.
And this past week will probably be even more agonising than The American Express, with Thomas doing all the hard work to get himself into a commanding lead at Innisbrook.
Justin Thomas praised despite his agonising finish at the Valspar Championship
With that, it is not only Thomas’ performance which is receiving plaudits.
One of the biggest talking points off the course at the Players Championship was Collin Morikawa‘s decision to not talk to the media after finishing second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Morikawa came in for further criticism after claiming at TPC Sawgrass that he owed the media nothing as he defended his actions at Bay Hill.
And speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, both Ryan Lavner and Rex Hoggard were full of praise for Thomas’ willingness to speak to the press after his agonising finish in Florida.
Lavner said: “We are coming off the Collin Morikawa issue. We still remember what happened last year at the US Open. JT just put his money where his mouth is. He encouraged all the PGA Tour players to be more open when it comes to the media, to be more engaging, to embrace the media for what it is. Here it is. He did it in a very difficult moment. What kind of message does that send?”
“Personal accountability is important and standing up being accountable for your play, for your performance, for what you mean as a professional golfer, I think that was important. There seems to be a little bit of hostility between PGA Tour players and the media who cover them,” Hoggard replied.
“I commend Justin Thomas for doing it. I think it is beneficial to hear from a player who just suffered a pretty crushing disappointment to hear why it happened, how he’s internalising it and rationalising it and how he can be better. It is very difficult to do in that scenario. We are on the other side, we are asking players to come off the golf course and within 60 to 90 seconds asking them to relive something that is pretty painful in the moment. Kudos to Justin Thomas for standing and facing the music.”
“I think that is the perfect example of what not just you and I but a lot of people in the golf media talked about last week coming off those Morikawa comments. We covered the Morikawa ground and all of us where pretty clear in saying no, he doesn’t owe us anything, and I am pretty sure the public doesn’t want to hear about what the media thinks we are entitled to, because we are really not entitled to anything. My argument all along was that he probably owes the fans something. He certainly owes the sponsors something. And he owes the media partners something, because that is really how your salary gets paid,” Lavner continued.
“So I will give JT a modicum of credit. Because faced with adversity he didn’t give short answers, I encourage anyone to go back and listen, he went in depth and wasn’t afraid to dig into it. I know it’s painful but I think that is what a professional does.”
How Justin Thomas reacted immediately to his loss at the Valspar
Thomas would have been forgiven for struggling to take many positives from the outcome. He did amazingly well to bring himself back into contention after not being far away from missing the cut.
And to have such a convincing lead down the stretch on Sunday, only to lose out by one, must have felt like a real sickener. However, Thomas seemed to be incredibly magnanimous with his reaction to the result.
‘It was a blast. I’ve had plenty of chances this year but nothing quite like that,” Thomas admitted. ‘That’s exactly why we play and practice.
“I felt so good out there, so comfortable and excited for every shot in this entire moment. There’s not much I can do, he birdies 16, 17 and I make it a lot easier on him but yeah, it’s fun, really really fun, but really hard trying to win golf tournaments.”
That will not have been easy, despite how the 31-year-old made it look. But it should be clearer than ever that that long-awaited win for Thomas is just around the corner with the way he is playing currently.
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