Justin Thomas seemed like a totally totally different golfer on Friday on the Fortinet Championship. After a first-round filled with blunders and struggling to seek out the fairways, Thomas turned it round to card a 5-under 67 to take a seat on the primary web page of the leaderboard.
He extremely hit 17-of-18 greens in regulation, was No. 2 in strokes gained off the tee and No. 5 in strokes gained method. The 2-time PGA Championship winner additionally led the sphere in driving distance at 340 yards.
These numbers are a lot improved from Thursday the place he hit simply 3-of-14 fairways and was No. 71 in driving distance at 301.5 yards.
“I used to be getting caught beneath it,” Thomas mentioned. “I might really feel it some on the market, and I really feel just like the adjustment I made on the fly yesterday to at the very least get it in the home, and so I had an excellent thought from slightly 10-minute vary session yesterday afternoon that I felt like might get me by means of at the moment, and it labored fairly properly.”
Thursday’s spherical made some surprise if Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson made the best alternative in selecting Thomas. Nonetheless, these doubters have seemingly been silenced in the meanwhile. He made six birdies on the day, together with his last two holes, the par-4 eighth and ninth.
“I performed actually stable, I drove the ball properly, felt like I gave myself lots of possibilities, felt like lots of like 12-to 20-footers,” Thomas mentioned. “It was good to make these putts on the final two holes… Once more, that’s why I keep affected person, sort of keep in it… birdied these final two to salvage an excellent spherical.”
His skill to regulate on the fly is one thing Thomas does typically. It’s one factor that has made him who he’s as knowledgeable golfer.
But, this season has been a battle for Thomas.
However he didn’t let his struggles, or the controversial choice to the Ryder Cup deter him from pushing ahead.
Certainly one of his modifications was implementing a brand new driver, which helped Thomas tremendously. He has used all of it week, but it surely lastly began to work for him after making that adjustment.
“If I drive it like I did at the moment, I’ll use it for the remainder of my profession,” Thomas mentioned Friday.
It appears Thomas has discovered some much-needed confidence on the course. He lastly seems to be having fun with himself once more, and that might be taking place on the proper time, with the Ryder Cup simply two weeks away.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. You may observe her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports for extra golf protection. Make sure to take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.
