Through 54 holes at the Hero World Challenge, Justin Thomas holds a one-shot advantage over Scottie Scheffler, as the two-time PGA Champion is the only player to post three rounds of 67 or lower.
He has crushed the ball off the tee with his new, longer driver, which helps explain his success. He ranks first in strokes gained off the tee and third in average driving distance. He has hit tee shots as long as 378 yards and even drove the 7th green on Saturday—a hole that measured 359 yards.
“I‘m driving it great. I’ve had a lot of confidence with [my new driver],” Thomas said.
“I feel like I’ve been able to put myself in some pretty good spots, going into the green. I’m still not taking advantage of some of them as much as I would like, but that’s golf. I feel like if I just tighten it up a little bit [on Sunday], drive it a little bit better, who knows what the conditions will be, but I should at least have more opportunities for birdies.”
Thomas is 17-under-par and has made only two bogies all week. He has played solid, clean golf, which he has unfortunately not done in quite some time. Sure, he has had solid spurts here and there, like his T-8 at the PGA Championship this year and the five other top 10s he posted. He also made it to East Lake, proving he had a much better season in 2024 than in 2023, which was a career low for him.
But Thomas has not won a tournament since his come-from-behind triumph at Southern Hills in 2022. In his 10 major starts since then, Thomas has missed five cuts.
“I’ve been progressing nicely, been working on all the right things,” Thomas said.
“Feel like I’ve been seeing signs of improvement, which is what you want, and that’s all I can do. I can’t control everybody else or what’s going on; I’ve just got to keep playing as good as I possibly can and hope it’s enough come Sunday.”
If he keeps driving it like he has on Sunday, Thomas will be a tough man to beat. And if he goes on to win with his new driver while fending off Scheffler, Thomas will have all the confidence in the world going into 2025.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
