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Justin Thomas getting fatherhood tips on TOUR

Published

2 weeks ago

December 5, 2024

New daughter Molly top of mind at Hero World Challenge

Justin Thomas said he’ll be figuring out fatherhood on the fly for the foreseeable future even as other players like Tiger Woods continue giving him tips along the way.

It’s been just over two weeks since Thomas and his wife, Jillian, announced the arrival of their first child, daughter Molly Grace. Thomas, whose only start in the FedExCup Fall was a runner-up finish at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, said his family is very much on his mind as he prepares to tee it up at this week’s unofficial Hero World Challenge.

“It is great,” he said of dad life. “Yeah, it’s very hard to explain, but it’s – yeah, it’s been unbelievable. It’s been somehow a fast but slow couple of weeks.

“… FaceTiming with my own daughter was like, it was wild,” Thomas continued. “It was hard to explain, and it was like, I don’t know. It just is really, really weird. Yeah, you just want to call and see her and see how her and Jill are doing.”

Thomas shared the news of Molly’s arrival on social media with a picture and the caption: “Our little girl is here! Molly Grace Thomas arrived to us 11/18/24, and we couldn’t be more in love. Both mamma (who is a superhero!) and Molly are healthy, and doing well.”

It was the high point of what had already been a solid year.

Although he did not win, Thomas, 31, registered top-25 finishes in half of his 20 starts and made the TOUR Championship. The winner of 15 PGA TOUR titles, including the PGA Championship twice and the 2021 PLAYERS Championship, had struggled in 2023 but compiled a solid body of work in ’24.

Up to 25th in the Official World Golf Ranking, his goals are simple: win again and figure out how to balance his travel schedule with the new addition to the family.

“Fortunately, we’re going to travel as much as we can together,” he said, “and that’s kind of our lives and how it is and we’re going to make the most of it and (do) the best we can.”

Plenty of others have traveled the TOUR as a young family, including Jordan Spieth, with son Sammy and daughter Sophie, and Tiger Woods with daughter Sam and son Charlie. Thomas has gotten advice from both, but from Woods in particular.

“I’ve definitely seen a new side of him,” Thomas said. “I mean, it’s just been really cool. He’s so – he’s always checking in wanting to see how I’m doing, how Jill’s doing, how Molly’s doing. He knew when Jill’s surgery was, and he called the night before asking how everybody’s doing. I hung up and I just looked at Jill and she said, ‘I bet you didn’t think that was going to happen when you were growing up.’ I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t.’

“He loves his kids so much and he knows how special family is,” Thomas added. “He just knows even still being a competitor, like just the love you have for your children is so different and you don’t necessarily have to lose your competitive drive, and if anything, it could get even more. It’s just about separating the two, but also just enjoying it.”