It says everything about how good Justin Thomas has been of late that he is going to be one of the favourites to win one of the most eagerly anticipated PGA Championships in recent memory.
The PGA Championship could have hardly had a better build-up. Of course, Rory McIlroy goes into the second major of the year off the back of winning The Masters. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau will head to Quail Hollow having both won on their most recent starts.
But alongside them, Justin Thomas has to be in the conversation. He finished second three times after the Tour Championship before ending his wait for a win at RBC Heritage.
Thomas also won the most recent PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. So the 31-year-old appears to be hitting form at exactly the right time.
What Justin Thomas said ahead of The Masters which Scott Van Pelt did not believe
So it definitely appears that the big win is just around the corner. But it seems that Thomas would at least claim that he would not be entirely comfortable being one of the favourites.
Speaking in a conference call hosted by ESPN involving The Golfing Gazette, Scott Van Pelt shared what Thomas told him about not having to do a press conference at Augusta National last month, which Van Pelt admitted that he was not buying for one second.
“I had a chance to visit with him on a rainy Monday at Augusta, and we caught up and had lunch. I just kept saying, I feel like you’re obviously close. He had played so many good rounds. The 62 — if he didn’t put one in the water at Sawgrass, he shoots the course record. Which is convenient because it gives me an opportunity to bust his chops about, hey, nice water ball on 18,” he said.
“But I felt like just — he could sense, and he knew there was no doubt. He knew: I’ve won a bunch, and I’m close, and it’s going to happen.
“And I think that this game — again, obviously observing it, not living it. Curtis knows far better than I do what it is to live it. But it’s hard to win. I think he knew it was coming, but for him to win the way he won and to bury a putt, I think it frees him up a bit, too, because now he doesn’t have to answer the “why haven’t you” questions, “when is it going to happen” questions.
“He didn’t have any doubt. He felt confident. He felt comfortable. But winning changes his outlook because you’re not dealing with questions from you, me and everybody else about what’s going on, why haven’t you, because then it probably make you look inward and go, I don’t know, why haven’t I?
“I felt like he was in a great place before Augusta, and obviously winning now and going to a place where he’s won, he kind of — he said at Augusta — you know what he said to me? He goes, I don’t have to do any media that week. I like being under the radar.
“I go, No, you don’t. No, you don’t. You want to go in there because the people that go in there are the people that they think are going to win. You want to be on that list.
“I didn’t believe that. I think you’d rather have us bother you because it means we think you can win, and I think people will bother him next week at Quail Hollow.”
What was so impressive about Justin Thomas’ win at the RBC Heritage
Thomas’ victory at Harbour Town felt like a significant hurdle had been cleared, because having that winning feeling can be so important for when you find yourself in contention on the biggest stages.
Thomas had been close on a number of occasions. But it would have been easy to take a step backwards after his disappointing finish at the Valspar Championship.
But he played superbly to see off Andrew Novak at Hilton Head. And it seems that Curtis Strange was particularly impressed by Thomas’ performance.
Speaking in the same call, the two-time major champion suggested that there are fewer courses which appear to be less suited to Thomas’ natural game.
“You never want to be under the radar, okay. And you never want to be getting close. When people say you’re close, what does that mean? It means I’m not playing very well. Okay, I’m getting better, but I’m not playing well,” he said, picking up on Van Pelt’s point.
“Anyway, I think Justin is — when you talk about players, I think he would be third or fourth on this list that we’ll talk about here next week.
“Think about it like this: He won a few weeks back at Harbour Town on a golf course in my estimation that would be one of the last golf courses he would win on because it’s such a tight, tight golf course with the smallest greens on the planet, and he’s a big hitter, big golf course, big swinger, let her go, and he’s the modern player.
“By him winning on a short, tight golf course speaks volumes to me because he can always play the long game. Playing the short game there shows me a great deal that he does have the confidence to hit these shots. He does have the confidence in his game. We’ve seen it come back, and as you were saying, getting close, but to get over the hump at Harbour Town, I just can’t put into words what it does for you and your confidence, your ability to hit the shot the next week.
“He’s changed a great deal mentally from the week before Harbour Town to now at the PGA because he has won, and he truly believes now that he can get it done.”
Winning a third major next week is going to be an even bigger task for the American, particularly with so many of his peers playing extremely well.
But he will be delighted that his form definitely makes him one of the names to watch out for at Quail Hollow – even if he may say something else.
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