Justin Thomas (1 USPGA)

1993

Justin Louis Thomas (born April 29, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. In 2017, he won his first major championship, the PGA Championship.

Thomas was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Prior to his junior year in high school, he played in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in August 2009 and became the third youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event at 16 years, 3 months and 24 days.[1]Thomas graduated from St. Xavier High School in 2011.[2]

Thomas played college golf at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where he won six times for the Crimson Tide.[3] As a freshman in 2012, he won the Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. He was on the national championship team of 2013.

Thomas' father, Mike Thomas, has been the head professional at the Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, since 1990.[4]

Thomas turned professional in 2013 and earned his tour card on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school. He won his first professional event at the 2014 Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship.[5] Thomas finished fifth in the 2014 Web.com Tour regular season, and third after the Web.com Tour Finals, and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2015 season.

In 2015, Thomas collected seven top-10s and 15 top-25s, with fourth-place finishes at the Quicken Loans National and Sanderson Farms Championship as his best results. He finished 32nd at the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, losing the Rookie of the Year award to Daniel Berger.

On November 1, 2015, Thomas earned his first victory on the PGA Tour by winning the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia by a single stroke over Adam Scott. He overcame a double bogey on the 14th hole during the final round and holed a six-foot (1.8 m) par putt to claim the win by a stroke. Thomas had earlier shot a course record 61 during the second round to contribute to a 26-under-par winning score.[6] Thomas successfully defended his title at the CIMB Classic in October 2016 for his second tour win.

Thomas won the SBS Tournament of Champions in January 2017 for his third PGA Tour win.[7] In the following week's tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii, Thomas became the seventh player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. During the first round, he opened his round with an eagle and needed to make an eagle on the ninth, his last hole of the day, to shoot 59.[8] Thomas became the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 round. Thomas finished with rounds of 64, 65, and 65 to win the tournament by 7 strokes. He set tournament records for 18, 36, 54, and 72 holes (59, 123, 188, and 253, respectively). He also set PGA Tour records at 36 and 72 holes and tied the 54-hole record.[9]

Hole101112131415161718Out123456789InTotal
Par 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 35 4 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 5 35 70
Score 2 4 4 3 3 4 3 2 4 29 3 3 4 2 4 4 3 4 3 30 59

During the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Thomas equalled the U.S. Open single-round record of 63. He eagled the last hole by hitting his 3-wood to 8 feet on the par-5 hole to finish at 9-under-par, also a U.S. Open record, passing the previous record held by Johnny Miller at Oakmont Country Club. In the fourth round, he played alongside Brian Harman in the final grouping, the first time he had done that in a major championship. He shot a three-over-par 75 and finished in a tie for ninth place.

In August 2017, Thomas won his first major, the 2017 PGA Championship, winning by two shots.[10]