After three rounds, Justin Thomas was sitting at even par at the beginning of Sunday. But a 5-under 65 helped him jump up to second place, one stroke behind the leader, Alex Smalley. Many in the field had not even teed off when JT ended his round at 3:05 PM. He had to wait for over 3 hours to see if he had won, and this was a weird predicament he was put in.

Thomas told Sean Zak of GOLF.com, “It was weird, man. The time between leaving my [rental home] and when I got here. Aaron had gone birdie-birdie. I was like, Oh, wow. It really is over now.”

Up until Aaron Rai was still at 7-under par on the 15th hole, Thomas still had hopes. After all, the 33-year-old was only two strokes behind him. There was always a chance for him to get back into the picture for a playoff. But the Englishman shot consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to seal the deal on the Wanamaker Trophy. That put him at 9-under par, four strokes clear of JT. That’s when Thomas knew it was all over for him and the rest of the field at the Aronimink Golf Club. Everyone was three shots behind Rai at that point, and he had successfully won the major.

As disappointing as it might have been for Thomas, he would have still been proud of his valiant effort. Especially considering how everyone else was struggling on the fairway on Sunday. Even top contenders like Rory McIlroy couldn’t score more than a 1-under par. Rai needed to shoot a 5-under 65 himself to ensure that he won the 2026 PGA Championship comfortably. Or he, too, would have been in quite some trouble.

That said, Thomas was facing his own demons at the Aronimink Golf Club before his final round charge. Let’s look at what he had to overcome before grabbing that top-10 finish.

Justin Thomas’ struggles before Championship Sunday in the 2026 PGA Championship

On paper, after the final round result, it may seem like Justin Thomas was one of the best golfers on the field in the 2026 PGA Championship. However, that wasn’t the case going into the tournament and even during the major. His season was riddled with injuries and a long journey of rehabilitation.

Thomas told the reporters, “I play a couple of tournaments, and I don’t feel it anymore, it’s gone, it’s good forever, for the rest of my life. I play a sport that’s about as bad on your lower spine as you could basically draw up. Then you add in a crazy amount of repetition and a crazy amount of years doing it. It’s just everybody feels it differently. I’m trying to look at it as I’m never fully over it, and I’m doing all the things I feel like I need to do still, not just because, oh, it feels good, I’m good, I’m in the clear now. The goal is to do my maintenance so that I don’t have another issue.”

The frustrating relationship with his health led to many poor results this year. However, he kept fighting and pushing to perform better. And when the time came, he was able to deliver at the Aronimink Golf Club. Had Aaron Rai not gone on a wild run in the final round, then Thomas might have also been in contention to win his third Wanamaker Trophy this year.