{"id":516795,"date":"2026-03-05T22:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516795\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:04:13","slug":"signature-scroll-whats-fair-to-expect-of-justin-thomas-at-arnold-palmer-invitational-presented-by-mastercard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516795\/","title":{"rendered":"Signature Scroll: What\u2019s fair to expect of Justin Thomas at Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

7H AGO<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

4 Min Read<\/p>\n

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Signature Scroll<\/p>\n

<\/a>*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]>\"Justin<\/p>\n

Justin Thomas on rehab post-surgery, expectations for return at Bay Hill<\/p>\n

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A<\/p>\n

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Written by Paul Hodowanic<\/p>\n

NOTE: Get the Signature Scroll \u2013 and the rest of PGA TOUR’s newsletters, including The Connect, Wire to Wire and The Early Card \u2013 directly in your inbox. Subscribe today!<\/a><\/p>\n

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Justin Thomas leaned left and shook his head, watching carefully as his tee shot sprayed into the right rough at Bay Hill Club & Lodge\u2019s 11th hole on Wednesday morning. Before Thomas could pick up his tee, a smiling Russell Henley was in front of him for a handshake and a hug. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of these interactions this week for Thomas, who is back on TOUR for the first time since the Ryder Cup last fall. He spent the last four months sidelined, recovering from the same back surgery that Tiger Woods and Will Zalatoris underwent in recent years. <\/p>\n

As I typed that out, I realized the difficulty of squaring those statements. What\u2019s fair to expect of Thomas in his return? There\u2019s a balance to strike between the excitement of having him back and the very real history of those who have attempted similar comebacks. That\u2019s on my mind as Thomas gets ready to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. What is realistic? <\/p>\n

On one hand, Thomas is coming off a resurgent season. He won for the first time since 2022, led by a complete turnaround with the putter and the consistent ball-striking we\u2019ve come to know. He got as high as No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking, the best he\u2019s been since the 2021 Olympics. Still only 32 years old, he\u2019s firmly within the prime of his career and made serious inroads toward a second peak last year. <\/p>\n

*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]>\"Justin<\/p>\n

Justin Thomas hits perfect stinger in return to competition at TGL <\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019d be unfair to expect too much from Thomas too quickly. The tenuous history of golfers who have recently undergone microdiscectomies is hard to ignore. A quicker refresher:<\/p>\n

Will Zalatoris underwent his first microdiscectomy in April 2023. He returned seven months later and made 33 starts over the next two years before needing the surgery again last May. He had only three top-10s in those 33 starts. <\/p>\n

Tiger Woods has had six back surgeries. His first microdiscectomy was in April 2014. He played less than three months later and made 16 starts before undergoing two more back surgeries in the fall of 2015. It wasn\u2019t until after a fourth surgery in 2017 that he turned the corner, eventually returning and winning the TOUR Championship and Masters. <\/p>\n

Graham DeLaet underwent multiple microdiscectomies as well, first in 2011 and again in 2018. He played six full seasons after his first surgery and kept his card every year. The last surgery in 2018 was harder to come back from. He made only 10 more TOUR starts before retiring. <\/p>\n

What are the takeaways? It\u2019s possible to return to your old self post-surgery. DeLaet did quickly after his first operation and Woods did eventually, but it\u2019s far from a sure thing, with Zalatoris a very recent cautionary tale. <\/p>\n

Thomas is optimistic that his issues won\u2019t linger. For one, the doctors caught the problem early. He\u2019s never had any back pain. Doctors only found the issue when Thomas felt stiffness in his hip and an MRI eventually revealed the injury. He\u2019s followed all medical guidance and feels fully healthy now. Those are all reasons to be optimistic. <\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to be rusty,\u201d Thomas said. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll take rusty \u2026 as long as it\u2019s followed by an extended bill of good health. <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc6 Luke Donald is back as the European Ryder Cup captain. It\u2019s not unprecedented, but it\u2019s been 30 years since we\u2019ve had a similar situation \u2026<\/a>\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udcbb Who do the experts like to win this week?<\/a> There\u2019s a healthy dose of Scottie Scheffler and multiple members of that winning European team from Bethpage Black \u20265\ufe0f\u20e3 What\u2019s holding Viktor Hovland back?<\/a> I dove into that and a few other subplots I\u2019m following from Bay Hill in this week’s “The Five” \u2026<\/p>\n

Those with keen eyes and a good memory will see Bay Hill return to an old look this week, one with a lot more variety around the greens. The tournament re-implemented varying areas of short grass around all 18 greens that were lost during COVID, when the club didn\u2019t have enough manpower to maintain them. <\/p>\n

This will penalize big misses even more by propelling balls further from the greens and forcing precarious recovery shots, while minor misses won\u2019t be as difficult as they once were when they had to hit out of thick rough from just off the green. The consensus among players and caddies on-site this week is that it will make some holes easier and some harder, though they lean toward overall scoring improving slightly. <\/p>\n

Take note of the sixth and 11th holes, specifically. The sixth now has a bailout zone between the bunkers on the right, while a greenside bunker was removed on the 11th and replaced with short grass. <\/p>\n

\"Scottie<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler rolls in 11-foot birdie putt on No. 1 at Arnold Palmer<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udd04 The always tinkering Viktor Hovland has changed coaches again. He parted with Grant Waite and is now working with T.J. Yeaton, with whom he worked briefly last year. \ud83e\udd37\u200d\u2642\ufe0f Scottie Scheffler brushed off any concerns that he has a Thursday issue<\/a>. Scheffler ranks outside the top 100 in first-round scoring average, but is inside the top 10 in the other three rounds. \u201cAt 16 rounds, I’ve had 13 that have been really solid and three that haven’t been as good. So I’m still batting at a pretty nice percentage.\u201d4\ufe0f\u20e3 Ryan Gerard is enjoying a nice run of form, but that hasn\u2019t stopped his experimenting. My colleague Alistair Cameron caught him testing a new Scotty Cameron on Tuesday, the fourth putter he\u2019s tried in six days.<\/a>\ud83d\udd75 Could you guess who is second in scoring average this season? I would not have been able to. It\u2019s Jake Knapp, averaging 68.9 this season. Only Knapp and Scheffler have sub-69 averages.*:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-11jnzpa>img,.css-11jnzpa>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-11jnzpa::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:66.66666666666666%;}]]>\"Image<\/p>\n

Mar 4, 2026<\/p>\n

Latest<\/a>\"Image\"Image<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"7H AGO 4 Min Read Signature Scroll *:not(style){overflow:hidden;position:absolute;top:0px;right:0px;bottom:0px;left:0px;display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;width:100%;height:100%;}.css-17ygvlf>img,.css-17ygvlf>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-17ygvlf::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:56.25%;}]]> Justin Thomas on rehab post-surgery, expectations for return at Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-516795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}