They say golf is a crazy game.
Six days after signing for a second straight 79 and Justin Thomas emerges to birdie his opening three holes and then birdie three of his closing four holes in a stunning turnaround score of 68 on day one of The Players Championship.
JT had been boasting last Friday in speaking with GolfByTourMiss and other members of the Arnold Palmer Invitational media that he was delighted to have ended his second round ‘missing the fat lady’, referring to not shooting a score of 80.
Fast forward to Tour HQ and the double major winner has put himself straight into contention after his super four-under start at TPC Sawgrass.
So, how does JT explain the difference between back-to-back scores of seven-over and then a third being four-under.
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN A PAIR OF 7⃣9⃣s ONE WEEK & A NEXT ROUND OF 6⃣8⃣
Well ‘JT’ @JustinThomas34 did after a stunning turnaround effort day one @THEPLAYERS
“I just was able to knock a little bit of rust off last — a lot of rust off last week, and obviously felt a lot more… pic.twitter.com/NeFwQXKcVX
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) March 12, 2026
“Yeah, it felt great. Just feels great to get off to a great start at a big tournament, a tournament that I love. I always enjoy playing this place. I just feel like it’s just a fun course to play,“ said a smiling JT
“I feel like you can, given the different wind conditions or whatever, you have a lot of variety of shots and things that Sawgrass kind of asks of you.
“But yeah, I can’t necessarily say I’ve been playing well because last week was my first tournament in six months, but I felt I was more than capable of doing that.
“But just was able to knock a little bit of rust off last — a lot of rust off last week, and obviously felt a lot more comfortable today“.
So, after the disappointment, and somewhat embarrassment of last week, how does a score of 68 in the Tour‘s flagship event help?
“Man, it helps“ said JT.
“I kind of had a deep breath to myself walking off 9 and even, like I said, internally, I needed that. Just to — again, I feel like I’ve been playing well at home. I feel like I’m doing the right thing swinging well.
“I feel confident with things. But again, until it happens in competition, it’s kind of hard to fully buy into you’re ready.
“I think that was kind of what I said last week. My main goal is getting through these weeks and really feeling like I’m not having to try so hard to be in a good place at Augusta.
“I think yes, I know that I want to try and play well and try and win these next couple events, but it’s also going to be harder for me to probably continue to focus and keep my concentration this week versus a couple weeks.
“Just all part of it“.
