ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The images told the entire story. A devastated Justin Thomas staring at the sky, running his hand through his hair, standing with his hands on his hips and then being consoled by his caddie, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay.
This was six weeks ago at the Masters when the Jupiter resident needed to make a 15-foot putt on Saturday morning of the rain-impacted tournament to avoid missing the cut for the first time in his eight Masters starts. The ball slid by the cup on the damp surface and Thomas’ reaction went viral.
The two-time major champion was in the same position Friday, with an 8-footer for bogey standing between him and the cut at the PGA Championship.
This time he made the putt to finish on the cut line. Thomas was relieved he would be around on the weekend to attempt to defend his 2022 PGA Championship.
“It went from trying to make a par (on No. 18) to trying to make a birdie off the tee, really thought my tee shot was going to be in the fairway to be honest, and then from there, it’s like – holy crap, what have we done,” Thomas said about his drive that found a fairway bunker.
“But Tiger has always said it, I’ve always said it, you’ve got to give yourself a chance and anything can happen. And on this golf course, I gave myself a chance. So see if we can do something crazy this weekend.”
Thomas, who shot a 73, entered Saturday 5-over and tied for 59 with 16 others — including Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth — 10 shots behind leaders Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland.
After Thomas made the putt, Rory McIlroy, one of his playing partners and a fellow Jupiter resident, draped his arm around Thomas’ shoulder and offered encouragement.
“He just said, auto finish, good putt,” said Thomas, ranked No. 13 in the world. “I played with him before when I’ve had it unfortunately go the other way in a very similar circumstance, so he was glad to see it go that way he said.”
