While a lot of the attention heading out of the Hero World Challenge was rightly on Scottie Scheffler, it does appear to have been an incredibly encouraging week for Justin Thomas as he finished in third in the Bahamas.
Justin Thomas was initially an invite for the Hero World Challenge after another underwhelming season on the PGA Tour by his standards. Thomas is still awaiting his first victory since the PGA Championship in 2022.
He finished second at the ZOZO Championship during the fall season. And it appears that he has taken another step forward in recent weeks, with Thomas going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge with a one shot lead over Scottie Scheffler.
Ultimately, Thomas was not able to keep pace with Scheffler – who shot 63 on Sunday to win by six. But there were a number of positives for the 31-year-old. Thomas was hitting some brilliant drives, having put a longer driver in the bag for the week.
What Justin Thomas does as well as Scottie Scheffler
And it seems that there is one aspect of the game where Thomas is comparable to Scheffler. Speaking on CBS’ The First Cut Podcast about Thomas’ driving, Mark Immelman assessed how far the two-time major champion is from the world number one.
“To the driver. It’s a game in which we are playing right now and there were a few drives that were really impressive to me. And the one which stands out, and he tried to replicate it on the 18th but it didn’t work out, and he got up there on nine, a little right to left helping breeze, which made it easier, and JT, who likes to go a fade, and he does have a fairway finder, like a low one if he needs, he just set one off over the water on the right and turned it on the breeze to the tune of some 340. And I was like okay this is real,” he said.
“But there was once or twice where he lost the handle on it some. But when you get to these courses where power is a real thing, like I think of Torrey Pines early next year, he always plays great at Kapalua and he will let that thing fly over there because the fairways are so wide. But then you get to Torrey Pines, just bludgeon the thing down there because the rough is so thick anyway that people are just gouging balls out to get on the green.
“I almost feel like this thing may be a stayer. I like the shape of the golf swing; to me in a strange way the longer driver is deepening the arm swing a little bit more at the top, and he doesn’t look as vertical so as a result he doesn’t look he tilts back out of it through contact. I think it’s all sunshine and lollipops right now off the tee.
“I really have to see that the guy who is first in strokes gained off the tee and second in strokes gained approach is finishing third. That’s what’s got to be worked on. I have said it time and time again, and I will die on this hill, the guys who win events, and that’s what JT’s trying to do, are the best putters or ball strikers over the week.
“He played alongside Scottie and Scottie didn’t look like he was going to miss. He just didn’t. And he’s equally as good a ball striker. I think there is more to it to me than just pure ball striking. He has to find a way to make putts when it means something.”
How Thomas’ 2024 stats compare with Scheffler
It is important to not get too carried away with one tournament. Thomas has, unfortunately, shown glimpses of his quality throughout the season, but not managed to put it all together over a tournament. Even Sunday saw Thomas follow three of his birdies with bogeys on the very next hole.
But his statistics throughout 2024 do suggest that he is not far away in some aspects of his game. Like Scheffler, he is inside the top 10 for strokes gained for his approach play. Meanwhile, he has the edge over Scheffler around the green.
| PGA Tour rank for strokes gained | Off the tee | Tee to green | Approach | Around the greens | Putting | Total |
| Scottie Scheffler | 2 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 77 | 1 |
| Justin Thomas | 72 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 174 | 25 |
However, Scheffler is nearly flawless from tee to green, while he has outperformed Thomas on the putting surface by some way – despite the putter being his big weakness.
It is frightening to think of how good anyone is going to have to play to beat Scheffler in the coming years. But perhaps there was enough shown last week to suggest Thomas could be someone who does not allow Scheffler to have everything his own way in 2025.
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