Justin Thomas admits what he’s still not totally happy with in his game despite taking the lead in the Hero World Challenge

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Justin Thomas appears to have a golden opportunity to end his two-year wait for a victory, with the 31-year-old one shot clear of Scottie Scheffler heading into the final round of the Hero World Challenge at Albany.

Justin Thomas was initially handed an invite to the Hero World Challenge after an underwhelming year on the PGA Tour. However, he has made the most of the opportunity to put himself at the top of the leaderboard with one round to go.

Perhaps surprisingly, Thomas has been extremely consistent over the first three rounds. He has made just two bogeys on his way to posting scores of 66, 67 and 66. And it seems that all aspects of his game are in a much better place than they had been for the majority of 2024.

Justin Thomas reacts to his third round at the Hero World Challenge

Thomas was first in the field for strokes gained with his approach game on Saturday. Meanwhile, his putting made a big jump. But, while he insisted that he was happy with his driving, he admitted feeling that he could be even better off the tee in the final round.

“Yeah, I’m driving it great. I’ve had a lot of confidence with it. I feel like I’ve been able to put myself in some pretty good spots, you know, going into the green. I’m still not taking advantage of some of them as much as I would like, but that’s golf and we’re always going to say that,” he said.

“Yeah, I feel like if I just kind of tighten it up a little bit tomorrow, drive it a little bit better, who knows what the conditions will be, but should at least have more opportunities for birdies.”

The story of Thomas’ third round from the stats

Putting was definitely the big weakness in Thomas’ game in 2024. He was 174th on the PGA Tour for strokes gained with the flat stick.

Of course, the Hero World Challenge is contested by a much smaller field. So it is difficult to read too much into the statistics, but they do still provide an indication of what direction Thomas’ game is trending in.

Thomas’ doubters will potentially be expecting him to fall away during the final round, particularly with Scheffler the man directly behind him with 18 holes to play.

So it would be a real statement if he could get the job done.