There was good reason for fans of Justin Thomas to be excited about the two-time major champion heading into the 2025 season opener at The Sentry.
Justin Thomas is perhaps the player on the PGA Tour being most widely tipped for a comeback year after another underwhelming season for the 31-year-old.
He finished second at the ZOZO Championship, while he led going into the final round of the Hero World Challenge. And Thomas just appeared to be much more comfortable with his game in the Bahamas. It was no surprise that many expected Thomas to prove a point in 2025.
He has previously won The Sentry, so he appeared to be well placed to contend in Maui. However, a stunning 63 on Sunday was only good enough to move Thomas into a tie for 26th at the Plantation Course.
Why Justin Thomas’ performance at The Sentry was a concern
Thomas opened with two rounds of 71. So it was perhaps a little reminder of the work which still lies ahead for the American.
Nevertheless, speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast about the performances of Thomas and Xander Schauffele – who finished tied for 30th – Rex Hoggard admitted that he was a little taken aback by Thomas’ showing.
“I think Xander was probably just some rust coming into this week. We have talked about the idea that guys are not showing up this week in full grind mode, that is just not what they want to do or need to do. After a long season last year they needed some time off. If you look at what Xander did, he had a really, really bad start. I think he shot 72 on day one and the part that gets you is that I think he had two penalty strokes on day one. Do you think he had two penalty strokes all of last year? That was very out of character for Xander,” he said.
“JT surprises me a little bit. We touched on it towards the end of last season and the way he played in the Bahamas and the way he seemed to have turned his game around. What does JT need to do? Well he just needs to look at Scottie. He is doing all the things that Scottie does really well, which is ball striking but he still struggles with his putting. This really had nothing to do with that. He just looked sloppy from the beginning, that one concerned me a little bit. It seems to me that he would have shown up with a little bit more form but there is no alarm bells for either one right now. If we were having this conversation when we get to Florida then I will be a little concerned.”
The putting stat from The Sentry which shows the problem Thomas faces in 2025
The dilemma when it comes to predicting what you are going to see from Thomas was perfectly highlighted during the first and final rounds at The Sentry.
It was notable how competent Thomas looked on the greens during the Hero World Challenge, and he was actually first for strokes gained with the putter during the final round this past Sunday.
However, he was down in 50th in the same category on Thursday. Meanwhile, he was no higher than 47th for strokes gained off the tee during the first three days.
As Hoggard suggests, that is not a reason to write him off by any means. And it may be that the slightly dampened expectations help Thomas over the next few weeks. But it is hard not to feel a little concerned about the likelihood of Thomas putting his best form together across four rounds this year.
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