{"id":624669,"date":"2026-06-06T16:31:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T16:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/624669\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T16:31:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T16:31:09","slug":"justin-thomas-explains-why-he-hugged-rory-mcilroy-after-brutal-pga-tour-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/624669\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Thomas explains why he hugged Rory McIlroy after brutal PGA Tour round"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A handshake would have been the normal way to finish.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, during the second round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy shared an unexpected hug on the 18th green after a punishing day in brutal conditions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/players\/justin-thomas\" data-entity-type=\"taxonomy_term\" data-entity-uuid=\"9bd973fb-dd3f-4321-98bc-ae548143d786\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"Justin Thomas\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thomas<\/a> later explained it was simply a natural reaction after both players had been pushed to the limit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a mutual hug. We just looked at each other and I think we both, we were like, we need a hug,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n<p>It was a small moment that summed up just how hard the day had been.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Thomas carded a 75 to make the cut right on the number at five-over par after what he described as one of the toughest rounds of his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/tour\/pga-tour\" data-entity-type=\"taxonomy_term\" data-entity-uuid=\"0514d135-c0aa-4a5d-a5c8-f7197f44adc3\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"PGA Tour\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PGA Tour<\/a> career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can&#8217;t put into words how hard that was,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Then came his blunt assessment of the conditions:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat was the hardest round of golf that I can remember, major, non-major, it was just insane.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Show X Embedded Content<\/p>\n<p>Loading this video will expose you to potential cookies and tracking by the provider<\/p>\n<p>The wind, gusting around 20\u201325mph, wasn\u2019t just strong \u2014 it was unpredictable, making every shot feel like a gamble.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe wind wasn&#8217;t really the direction it was supposed to be or kind of forecasted to be for kind of like half the day and that usually isn&#8217;t something that happens when it&#8217;s at 25, 20, 25 miles an hour. It was just hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And there was no room for error.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou don&#8217;t have a bail out on half your shots out here so you have a lot of shots over water and you&#8217;re like, well, I hope it&#8217;s helping or I hope it&#8217;s not hurting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/players\/rory-mcilroy\" data-entity-type=\"taxonomy_term\" data-entity-uuid=\"af3de653-62db-4df6-b6c6-18281f91c1cb\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"Rory McIlroy\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">McIlroy<\/a>\u2019s finish told a similar story.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/rory-mcilroy-12e.JPG\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Rory McIlroy \" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.53\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Rory McIlroy<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>The world number two signed for a 74, dropping three shots across his final six holes to fall back to one-over par alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler.<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler\u2019s 72 looked steady on paper, but even he endured chaos at times, including a shanked bunker shot on the fifth that summed up just how difficult conditions were.<\/p>\n<p>After the round Scheffler provided a comment that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.golfmagic.com\/tour\/pga-tour\/scottie-schefflers-brutal-admission-will-make-amateur-golfers-feel-much-better-about\" data-entity-type=\"node\" data-entity-uuid=\"eb450619-d752-469b-aa69-eead85e522e2\" data-entity-substitution=\"canonical\" title=\"Scottie Scheffler\u2019s brutal admission will make amateur golfers feel much better about their game\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">would make amateur hacks feel better about their own games<\/a> this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the top of the leaderboard, J.T. Poston produced a brilliant 65 to move to nine-under par and one shot ahead of Ryan Gerard.<\/p>\n<p>McIlroy and Scheffler enter the weekend 10 shots off the pace, with Thomas 14 back.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>After his round, Thomas also took to X to praise Poston\u2019s performance in the same brutal conditions.<\/p>\n<p> Show X Embedded Content<\/p>\n<p>Loading this video will expose you to potential cookies and tracking by the provider<\/p>\n<p>Thomas wrote: \u201cI don\u2019t think I can put into words how good @JT_ThePostman round was today\u2026 I\u2019m out there trying to figure out where and how I can make ONE birdie, let alone shooting -7! Today was probably the most difficult round I\u2019ve played on tour. On to the weekend!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was a fitting contrast: one player battling just to make it through the cut, another producing a round that stood out even in chaos.<\/p>\n<p>But the lasting image wasn\u2019t on the leaderboard.<\/p>\n<p>It was on the 18th green at Muirfield Village \u2014 where two of the game\u2019s biggest names briefly dropped the formality of competition and simply acknowledged the reality of the day: survival first, everything else second.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A handshake would have been the normal way to finish. Instead, during the second round of the Memorial&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-624669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}