Justin Thomas shares what he told his caddie immediately before shooting five under par on the back nine at the Valspar Championship

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When Justin Thomas approached the 10th tee on Saturday at the Valspar Championship, it appeared that he was going to once again end up fighting for a spot in the middle of the pack after finishing just outside the top 30 at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship.

Once again, a slow start to a tournament appeared to dash Justin Thomas‘ hopes of victory at the Valspar Championship. He had opened his Players Championship week with a 78 before tying the course record of 62 on the following day.

Thursday at Innisbrook was not quite as dramatic, but a 73 left him facing a fight to make the cut. And he only just managed to squeeze in for the weekend after posting a 70 in round two.

And it seemed that his unspectacular tournament was set to continue as he reached the turn in one under par on Saturday. He had made par on each of the last five holes on the front nine.

What Justin Thomas said at the turn during round three of the Valspar Championship

However, the sparks began to fly from there. The 31-year-old made four birdies and one eagle to post the lowest round of the day and leave himself tied for fifth in Florida.

And speaking after his round, Thomas suggested that there was a clear intention to push through the gears on the back nine.

“Yeah, I love how obviously how the round finished. I’m proud of my patience. I think it would have been very easy with the start and not making more birdies on that front nine to get a little impatient or kind of start forcing the issue. I said to Rev when we were walking to 10 I was like, You know, let’s play this nine holes here to get back in this tournament,” he said.

“And we just, it’s not like we necessarily did anything differently, we just kept our head down and just tried to attack when we had chances. Yeah, we got on a little four-hole run there and that can be the difference of sparking an entire week or not. So hopefully that’s the one that sparks the week.”

Yet another low round for Justin Thomas as his wait for a PGA Tour win continues

The frustration for Thomas will stem from the fact that his game is clearly good enough to win on the PGA Tour right now. He has produced so many outstanding rounds since his most recent victory – the 2022 PGA Championship.

However, he has simply been unable to put it all together over a full tournament. He shot a 62 at TPC Sawgrass, while he was not far away from the lowest rounds of the week at both The Sentry and The American Express.

And given that no-one has matched his 65 this week, there is every reason for Thomas to believe that his wait for a win could in fact end in the coming hours.