Justin Thomas ‘acted like a child and had a tantrum’ before securing PGA Championship victory at Quail Hollow

Justin Thomas has done a lot of growing up since his 2017 PGA Championship victory at Quail Hollow.

In the eight years since his breakthrough major win, Thomas has overcome a cancer scare, married his sweetheart Jillian Wisniewski and welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Molly Grace.

JT, now a PGA Tour veteran at 32-years-old, is preparing to try and win his third major title, back at the location of one of his career highlights.

Thomas cemented his place among the world’s best at the 2017 PGA Championship.

His final round 68 was enough to hold Francesco Molinari, Louis Oosthuizen and Patrick Reed at bay and announce himself as a major champion.

Having bogeyed two of his first three holes on Sunday, Thomas needed to birdie the easy par-5 10th to avoid losing any more shots to his rivals.

After his tee shot cannoned off a tree and back into the fairway, a bomb three-wood found the back of the green.

He then chipped to around 6-feet to leave himself with a makeable putt for his bird.

But he tugged his effort slightly left and as the ball trickled down to the lip of the hole, it hovered over the cup for all of 12 seconds.

As Thomas turned away dejected, throwing his toys out of the pram, the ball finally dropped to spark wild celebrations around the green.

JT said: “The putt on 10 was funny because it snuck up on the hole. We read it going back a little back right and it never did.

As Thomas turned away dejected, throwing his toys out of the pram, the ball finally dropped to spark wild celebrations around the green.

“I kind of acted like a child and threw a little tantrum, but then it went in and I didn’t look so dumb.”

Thomas would then enjoy another career highlight on the 17th.

The daunting 223-yard par 3 comes smack in the middle of Quail Hollow’s famed Green Mile with the green surrounded by water on three sides.

Needing to pipe a full-tilt seven iron, Thomas caught it perfectly, hitting to eight feet and celebrating with a club twirl.

He duly sunk that putt too to give himself a nice buffer going up the final hole.

The Ryder Cup great got down in five on the last and secured the biggest win of his career, before saying: “I can’t put it into words, I’m glad to have a trophy now.

“I wish my grandpa could be here to see it. It’s so special to get it done with three generations of PGA members.

“But to have dad here, and my mom and my partner, it’s great. It really is.”

Current World No.5 Thomas has gone on to claim a second PGA Championship title, beating Will Zalatoris in the play-off in 2022.

But JT has struggled in the majors since his win at Southern Hills, only claiming one top ten in his last eleven events, including five missed cuts.

He was T36 at the Masters last month and would love another run at the PGA Championship this week.