Global Golf Post, December 4, 2017

tough to continue or tough to replicate in terms of this year But Im definitely going to give it my best Early in 2017 Thomas put a list of 13 season goals in his phone Some he accomplished with relative ease such as qualifying for the Tour Championship winning at least once and making the Presidents Cup team Others such as winning a major championship and picking up at least 25 strokes gained putting were more challenging Ultimately Thomas checked almost every box His only misses He wanted to average under par on par 3 holes but narrowly missed and he was not among the top 30 in scrambling For all the things Thomas did winning the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow was transformative in that it put him in the category of major championship winners Thomas had a chance to win the U S Open at Erin Hills but couldnt keep up with Brooks Koepka In a Sunday battle in Charlotte with Hideki Matsuyama Patrick Reed and Louis Oosthuizen among others Thomas shot a final round 68 to win by two strokes If a single swing defined Thomas season it was the 6 iron shot he hit into the green at Quail Hollows dangerous par 3 17th setting up a short birdie on a hole known for burying dreams Probably the best shot Ive ever hit in my life under those circumstances Thomas said It wasnt the only memorable shot Thomas hit Chasing history at Erin Hills Thomas hit a spectacular 3 wood of more than 300 yards into Erin Hills 18th green setting up the history making eagle that capped his 63 That was pretty sweet Thomas said that day It was a sweet year the sweetest of a still blossoming career In many ways Thomas is the embodiment of the modern golfer Though he weighs less than 150 pounds Thomas is among the games longest hitters and he plays aggressively chasing flags and birdies and trophies Low scores dont scare him They entice him Thomas is still just 24 Hes just getting started If there is a question its whats next for him You have to have probably two to four goals that are very achievable that you should achieve and two to four goals that are in grasp but theyll be tough and then two to four goals that are maybe a little bit out of the realm and that are going to be very difficult to do but are somewhat achievable if you have a great year like I did this year Thomas said Thats something Ill probably spend some time talking to Mr Jack Nicklaus about or Tiger Woods because those are guys those are the only people or even Jordan Spieth those are the only people I know that have had such success in one season multiple times and theyve had to deal with resetting their goals and re evaluating Im just going to have to figure out how to do so l globalgolfpost com DEC 4 2017 JUSTIN ON JUSTIN Ive got a lot of confidence in the game Theres nothing I dont feel good with Theres still room to work harder but Im at a level that works best for me so I dont get too burned out I mean Im still fiery I still get angry Thats just my personality my character that will probably never change But in terms of letting it roll over into the next shot I think Im way better at that PGA TOUR WINS EVENT SCORE TO PAR CIMB CLASSIC 64 66 71 64 265 23 SBS TOURNAMENT 67 67 67 69 270 22 OF CHAMPIONS SONY OPEN IN HAWAII 59 64 65 65 253 27 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP 73 66 69 68 276 8 DELL TECHNOLOGIES 71 67 63 66 267 17 CHAMPIONSHIP EVENTS 25 IN MONEY 19 WINS 5 TOP 3s 6 TOP 10s 12 STROKE AVG 6936 WINNINGS 9921560 8380742