Justin Thomas last played competitive golf in the Ryder Cup last year. Immediately after, he underwent a microdiscectomy on November 13, following which, the PGA Tour pro decided to sit back and recover. Finally, after a short hiatus, when Thomas came back to the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his performance was far from satisfactory. 

Walking the greens at Bay Hill after 158 days, the rust was evident on Thomas. Struggling at one of the toughest PGA Tour venues, the 32-year-old opened with a modest 7-over 79. This was in stark contrast to when his 2-2-0 performance nearly scripted a dream comeback for Team USA in the Bethpage Black last year. 

Coming into the tournament, most fans were worried about how his back would react from the impact of the swings. Surprisingly, Thomas lost his way with the putter. Losing nearly four strokes off the field on the greens, the golfer looked in some serious trouble. 

He struggled to anticipate the speed of the putting surfaces, missing from 10 feet at numbers 1, 7, 10, 11, and 13. As a result, he only landed 58 feet of putts in the day.  

Now, despite not being the ideal start to his comeback story, such a result was kind of expected. In fact, Thomas himself clarified how he was not expecting a stellar performance straightaway. Instead, he wanted to get back onto the greens, have some realistic goals, and get his game back to normal with time. 

In an earlier interview, Thomas said, “Look, I obviously want to and would love to play well next week, but I’m also understanding that it’ll be, what, almost five, six months since I’ve played a competitive tournament, so I’m not exactly expecting anything great. But at least everybody else will be struggling with me at Bay Hill, so that’ll make me feel a little bit better hopefully.”

Surprisingly, even as the returning star was not up to the mark, the broadcasters seemed to be fixated on him. Despite failing to impress, the ESPN coverage constantly panned the camera on Thomas. As the likes of Daniel Berger, Collin Morikawa, and others took control of the leaderboard, fans could not help but point out their frustrations with the API coverage.

Viewers criticize broadcaster for prioritizing Justin Thomas despite disappointing round

One fan voiced their frustration and asked, “Stop making us watch Justin Thomas suffer”. Although Thomas has already hinted at how he is looking forward to being back at a slow pace, golf fans are not eager to watch his declining form.

“I can’t believe rickie is 5 under and I havnt seen one of his shots on the main feed on @PGATOURLIVE  but we see every breath and hit of justin Thomas who is 12 OVER PAR!!,” read another comment from a netizen. They referred to Rickie Fowler’s performance, who currently stands at T5 with a total of five under par. Yet, he has not been the primary focus of the broadcast as cameras have been covering more of Thomas’ shots compared to other stars at the Bay Hill Club.

Another golf fan took a direct shot at ESPN. Echoing the same thought, the fan mentioned, “Hey @espn maybe reroute the cameras on +12 Justin Thomas to -5 Rickie Fowler, what do you think?”

“Yesssssssss keep showing us every single shot from Justin Thomas (+10) Killer stuff week in week out @PGATOUR,” chimed in another commenter sharing their personal opinion on the matter. 

One fan who wanted to witness the other players hitting the ball alongside Thomas added, “Do we need to see every JT shot today? Respectfully of course.”

The cameras have also covered Sam Stevens’ shots more than the names who are currently leading the scoreboard. Stevens stands at 71 in the leaderboards. This did not sit well with a golf enthusiast as they stated, “@ESPNPlus get Justin Thomas and Sam Stevens off my screen. I speak for everyone that is watching the main feed.”

Thus, fans are disheartened with both Thomas’ performance as well as the coverage.