A lot has been made of the handicap professional golfers are playing off this week after a few tour pros commented on the Creator Classic taking place at East Lake just prior to the Tour Championship.
With some of social media’s biggest personalities in golf taking part, there was plenty of chat about what a scratch handicap golfer could shoot.
In the end, the tournament was won by Luke Kwon, who managed to outdo the likes of Wesley Bryan and more on the playoff hole.
Of course, Scottie Scheffler was one of those asked about his own handicap.
Scheffler admitted he plays off a plus seven with friends, and there are some who feel he’s even better than that.
However, one thing Scheffler didn’t mention was if he ever offers up shots against fellow PGA players.
And discussing that very scenario, Justin Thomas has admitted he’d not be too happy if someone like Scottie offered him a few strokes!
Justin Thomas says there’s no way he’d take strokes off of Scottie Scheffler
Speaking in his interview before heading out for round one of the Tour Championship, Thomas was asked about his handicap playing at home.
And he admitted that while he does do it with friends, he’s be pretty annoyed if a fellow pro offered him a few strokes.
“It’s definitely not common. I think it would be pretty — I don’t want to say disrespectful, but I’d be pretty pi**ed if Scottie and I played a practice round and he’s like, ‘do you want a stroke on this nine?’, Thomas said.
“It would be like, what do I think of myself and what does he think of me. Honestly, it would be a pretty good intimidation factor.
“I definitely have some buddies that I play with at home that are maybe mini-tours or stuff like that, people that I’m close enough with where I feel like I can say that and I’ll just — I’ll be like, do you want some strokes or what do you want and they kind of look at me, and I know right then that I’ve already won the match because that’s what I think of them, kind of thing.”
Pride would definitely come into it
This is all a bit tongue-in-cheek and hypothetical but there is also an element of seriousness about what Justin Thomas is saying here.
For another PGA Tour pro to offer up shots to another pro would be, as Thomas says here, a bit of a power move.
You can just imagine in the past if someone took shots off Tiger Woods, they’d probably already feel beaten before hitting their first tee shot.
There is a huge element of pride at stake here and in fairness, at lot of the PGA players are so good that on any given day, they can beat another player.
Thomas v Scheffler – with a few strokes in hand – would make good viewing though!
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