Justin Thomas has become extremely close with Tiger Woods over the past seven or eight years.
Woods is the standard-bearer in the game when it comes to PGA Tour victories – with 82 wins to his name.
Players like Thomas look up to the 15-time major champion.
If Tiger Woods plays in The Masters this year, will he make the cut or miss the cut?
Woods completely transformed the sport, and without him, the likes of Thomas would not be competing for the financial rewards that they are today.
That’s why so many of today’s best golfers are in awe of the great man.
It works both ways, though, Tiger Woods is actually a big fan of Justin Thomas and has lauded the 32-year-old on many occasions in the past.
And the great man has always been there to lend a helping hand to the 16-time PGA Tour winner when he has needed it the most.
Tiger Woods told Justin Thomas how many events he could win every year
Thomas made an appearance on the Smylie Show this week, and much of the discussion centered around his relationship with Woods.
The man from Louisville, Kentucky, was asked by Smylie Kaufman what advice Tiger gave him when he was going through a really bad spell in 2023.
And the two-time major champion shared how many tournaments Woods told him he was capable of winning every single season even if he wasn’t playing his best golf.
“It’s always to keep it simple,“ Thomas said.
“He always says that, just keep it simple, stupid.
“Just don’t make things harder than they are, and that’s something, I think, is so easy to do in golf, and, a lot of guys do it.
“I’ve done it plenty of times, and unfortunately, will probably do it more.
“Hopefully less than I have done before. You know, being able to learn from the past.
“I mean, you know, all of the best players, it’s just how good is your bad? How well can you manage your bad days and your bad golf?
“And, I mean, his confidence and belief in me is really reassuring and nice.
“You know, he’s always told me, you’re good enough that you can go win four or five times a year without your best stuff and that’s, you know, whether he means it or not, like that’s, I appreciate that.
“And that means a lot for me to hear.
“So that’s, you know, stuff that I’ll remind myself.“
Woods tried to spread a positive mental attitude to Thomas
The reality of the matter is that Thomas has won just once since his PGA Championship victory in 2022.
He played extremely poorly in 2023, with just two top-5 finishes to his name in 21 events as well as six missed cuts.
Justin Thomas will never win a major again – change my mind
And it was much of the same in 2024, with four top-5s and four missed cuts in 20 events played.
Thomas will surely get back to his best level at some point.
However, to suggest that he’s capable of winning four or five times per season even when he doesn’t have his best stuff is quite frankly absurd.
That said, as Thomas admitted, Woods most likely didn’t mean what he told him. It was probably just a trick to help boost the two-time major winner’s confidence.
And the 32-year-old highlighted how, if that was what Woods was doing, then it worked.
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