Latest<\/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](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773363369_845_image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Justin Thomas on his return to competitive golf at Bay Hill<\/p>\n
*:not(style)~*:not(style){margin-top:0.5rem;-webkit-margin-end:0px;margin-inline-end:0px;margin-bottom:0px;-webkit-margin-start:0px;margin-inline-start:0px;}]]><\/p>\n
A<\/p>\n
Change Text Size<\/p>\n
Written by Paul Hodowanic<\/p>\n
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. \u2013 Justin Thomas didn\u2019t expect to win his first start back after six months on the sidelines. He also didn\u2019t expect that.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019 triumphant return to the PGA TOUR at last week\u2019s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard quickly turned disastrous. To be fair, Bay Hill is about the last course you\u2019d hope to return to after rehabbing from back surgery, but Thomas didn\u2019t shower himself in glory. At the end of two days, he was 14 over and headed home without much optimism.<\/p>\n
So as he walked off THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday, Thomas could finally exhale. This was more like it. After a \u201cnightmarish\u201d week at Bay Hill, Thomas rebounded with a 4-under 68 that placed him firmly on the first page of the leaderboard at THE PLAYERS Championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of had a deep breath to myself walking off nine and even, like I said, internally, I needed that,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/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](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773363370_678_image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Justin Thomas hits 112-yard approach to 8 feet, sets up birdie on No. 6 at THE PLAYERS<\/p>\n
Those doubts crept in after Bay Hill. Thomas vowed at the beginning of the week not to put too much stock into his performance. He wanted to think long-term. Yet it’s hard not to sulk when it\u2019s that bad. Thomas was \u201csad and upset\u201d on Friday night, frustrated by his lack of form despite all the circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you post two pretty humiliating scores, it’s not really \u2013 it’s hard to give yourself too much grace,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
He did little well outside of his short game, which was \u201cpretty ridiculous\u201d given how poorly he scored. But his driver, irons, putter and mental approach all lacked. It was the latter that gave him the most consternation. He found himself spacey on the course, lacking clear direction over shots. He was playing like a zombie. He often had no plan as he stood over shots.<\/p>\n
Enter: TPC Sawgrass. There\u2019s something about this place that just jives with Thomas\u2019 game. When he\u2019s playing well, he\u2019s a preeminent shotmaker, and TPC Sawgrass rewards that ability more than any course on TOUR. It forces players not to think about their golf swing, requiring them to shape shots, manipulate trajectory and control spin. That\u2019s what Thomas thrives at when he\u2019s right. It\u2019s also helpful to get Thomas out of his own head and force him to focus on every shot, not about his swing, or his broader performance. Thomas saw the results.<\/p>\n
![\"Justin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773363370_976_image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Justin Thomas hits 84-yard approach to 9 feet, sets up birdie on No. 9 at THE PLAYERS<\/p>\n
Starting on the back nine, Thomas birdied his first three holes, and though he dropped shots at 17 and 18, he played a clean round from there and picked up three birdies in his last five holes to shoot 4 under. And in direct contrast to Bay Hill, Thomas did everything well, gaining strokes in every aspect of his game. It was the putter that did the most heavy lifting, though. He holed a lot of mid-range putts, 6 to 15 feet, some for needed par saves and others to put red numbers on the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust feels great to get off to a great start at a big tournament, a tournament that I love,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cI always enjoy playing this place. I just feel like it’s just a fun course to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas will now be challenged to replicate it for three more days, though largely that\u2019s not the point. As Thomas works his way back into form, he knows there will be more bad days. He just needed to see that days like Thursday were possible, too.<\/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-11jnzpa>img,.css-11jnzpa>video{object-fit:cover;}.css-11jnzpa::before{height:0px;content:””;display:block;padding-bottom:66.66666666666666%;}]]>![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773098652_899_scottievrory1.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Mar 8, 2026<\/p>\n
How to watch: Scheffler, McIlroy headline featured groups for THE PLAYERS<\/a>Latest<\/a>![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2206557014.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3H AGO 3 Min Read Latest *: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 his return to competitive golf at Bay Hill…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-532593","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\/532593","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=532593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}