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Justin Thomas is playing like somebody with unfinished business as he makes his last start of 2024

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3 weeks ago

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It might be ridiculous to call a 31-year-old’s form “vintage” but Justin Thomas left us no choice in the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

On Friday at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, 90 minutes outside Tokyo, he looked like the Thomas of old. You know, the 15-time PGA Tour winner who was never afraid to go low. He flighted soft-arm wedge shots, rolled in mid-range putts and nearly holed a 5-iron for an albatross at the par-5 18th. Thomas settled for eagle and a six-under-par 64. At 10 under, he lurked ominously two shots off the lead with 36 holes to play.

Nico Echavarria (64) took the 36-hole lead at 12 under, while Taylor Moore (67) joined Thomas at 10 under. Eric Cole (67), Seamus Power (62) and C.T. Pan (66) shared fourth at nine under while Rickie Fowler (64) and Max Greyserman (68) were eight under.

Thomas, playing for the first time since the Tour Championship in August, was even nonchalant about a bogey-free round that launched him into contention. “It didn’t honestly feel [I did] a lot,” he said. “I felt like I maybe played a little better yesterday, as weird as it is.”

Perhaps it was because every part of his game seemed dialed. Thomas led the 78-player Zozo field in par-5 scoring, three-putt avoidance, bogey avoidance (he has just one through the opening two rounds) and strokes gained/tee-to-green.

He pulled out his brilliant best on the last hole—a 5-iron from 214 yards which threatened the hole and settled a few feet away. “I just took a little bit off of a 5-iron and cut it off the left center of the green,” he said. “I think hitting it in there to four feet was a bonus, but that’s the advantage of soft greens and hitting a good shot.”

The only problem is, Thomas hasn’t won in 29 months and the two-time major champ is not used to victory droughts. He won on the PGA Tour at least once in every year from 2015 to 2022—and then he stopped winning. His last trophy happened to be the Wanamaker, for a second time, at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

But it’s not for a lack of trying. Thomas had five top-10s in 2024, including a T-8 at the PGA at Valhalla in his home state of Kentucky.

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