Any golfer at any level will do their best to get an advantage over the course if they can and Justin Thomas has now revealed how he tried that very tactic at Muirfield Village with Jack Nicklaus.
The PGA Tour goes to ‘Jack’s Place’ this week for The Memorial Tournament and Thomas is one of the favourites to do the business.
With tricky greens and longer rough in places than usual, Thomas knows he’ll need to be at his best to beat the field and win out.
However, when it comes to trying to get one up both on the course and on Nicklaus himself, Thomas has now shared how he attempted to do just that in a previous tournament, before Nicklaus himself noticed his tricks.
Justin Thomas says how he got caught out by Jack Nicklaus
In the modern game, big hitting and cutting corners is often a tactic used by many top players.
In essence, advancing the ball as close to the hole as possible is seen as more beneficial to simply finding fairways at some events.
However, speaking to the press ahead of Thursday’s tee off, Justin Thomas has revealed how his attempt at gaining an advantage on the third hole was quickly caught out by Nicklaus.
“I just did that one year. I think Jack got wind of it, and it’s some of the longest rough in Ohio, I think, so that was a one-year wonder,” Thomas laughed.
“I just think with how the green is now, it’s always kind of been — I don’t know, I guess you could kind of say like peanut shaped, if you will, but it’s like, the back of that peanut has got very, very, very skinny now. So it’s just, it’s a tee shot that’s kind of, it’s very bland in front of you, but because of that I hadn’t necessarily hit it well, so with how the rough is here, if you miss the fairway you’re laying up essentially.
“But even if you don’t get a great number to those back pins, when the greens get firm you can hit a pretty good shot that can one hop in the back bunker, can go over the green, and just is in a very tough spot.
“So I thought the year that I did that if I just hit a driver basically at 4 tee, just hit it up in the rough there, I could always advance it to kind of the front of the green to where I would have either a chip or a 2-putt. And if I was able to have a lie or a clear shot then I was just chipping right up the green. But yeah, doesn’t happen anymore, so…theory was good.”
Justin Thomas needs to cut his inconsistency at The Memorial to have a chance of winning
The American goes into this year’s Memorial Tournament as one of the players in good form on the PGA Tour.
However, when you look back at Thomas’ career at Muirfield, it’s not great reading.
Thomas has played ten times at The Memorial but worryingly, he’s missed the cut four times out of those ten efforts, including missing it at the 2023 tournament.
Last year Thomas could only muster a T33, while we have to go back to 2018 for his last top ten, when he finished T8.
With so many good players, ‘JT’ needs to be on top of his game to be in with a chance here and he’ll be hoping others falter as he finds his form.
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