Justin Thomas is the No. 2 seed in the PGA Tour’s match-play event this week and despite only getting to the weekend one other time, he should be one of the favorites to navigate the five-day event.
He’s also still basking in the glow of his first-ever Players Championship victory, which came eight days ago at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
How exactly did he celebrate?
“I just had some chicken fingers or something like that at the course and split a bottle of wine with my girlfriend and went to sleep shortly after. I think I fell asleep on the couch, so I knew it was time for me to go to bed,” Thomas said on Monday ahead of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas.
WGC-MATCH PLAY: Wednesday matches, TV info | Odds, predictions
He also got to FaceTime with Tiger Woods.
“I had some texts from him. I got to FaceTime, talk with him a little bit after, because I knew he would want to chat and catch up and I knew he was going home the following day, so it was cool,” Thomas said. “He was in great spirits, was glad to hear how supportive, and my dad said he was texting him the whole day, giving him grief about what was going on, so it was good to see he was watching.”
Thomas faces off against Matt Kuchar, seeded 52nd, in the opening round. Those two along with Louis Oosthuizen (22) and defending champ Kevin Kisner (34) will play each other once to determine who advances to the knockout stages.
In 2018, Thomas advanced to the semifinals where he lost to eventual champion Bubba Watson, 3 and 2.
“Well I’ve only made it to Saturday once, so that was fun. But it’s kind of weird and different just because obviously your match is most important and you just keep winning your matches, it doesn’t matter what everybody else does, but it does matter at the same time. … you know if you go 3-0 you’re going to be fine, you’re going to get through, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I think that’s something I’ve struggled with in the past is looking too much at maybe other matches or worrying about what else is going on or playing to my opponent too much. … Sometimes you feel like I try to change my game plan or do something different, and that’s something that I’ve struggled with. I think that’s why I haven’t played well.”
List
A look at the 14 PGA Tour wins for Justin Thomas
