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ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 30: Justin Thomas USA during the second round of the 2024 FedExCup Playoffs Tour Championship on August 30, 2024 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire GOLF: AUG 30 PGA, Golf Herren FedExCup Playoffs – TOUR Championship EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon083024131

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ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 30: Justin Thomas USA during the second round of the 2024 FedExCup Playoffs Tour Championship on August 30, 2024 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire GOLF: AUG 30 PGA, Golf Herren FedExCup Playoffs – TOUR Championship EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon083024131
Molly Grace Thomas was born on November 18, 2024. Since then, her dad, Justin Thomas, has been busy juggling professional golf and fatherhood. However, in the past few months, the two-time major champion has been homebound recovering from his surgery. And that made him realize who is the strongest in his family.
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Joining The Smylie Show, Thomas told Smylie Kaufman, “Jill being home more and obviously, carrying Molly more. I’ve said to her a couple of times this week. I don’t get how you do it. No Offense, I’m stronger than you are. But if I hold her for five minutes… Your mom’s strength is real. I’m not built for it, apparently. I’m not going to fully blame that. But definitely working on my form as I pick her up.”
While Thomas may have asked the question of how his wife has more strenght, he answered it himself. She’s home more often and has been conditioned to lift her daughter. On the other hand, Thomas stays away from home playing tournaments four days a week. So he doesn’t get the opportunity to connect with Molly as much as his wife.
Howeve, Thomas understands where here expertise lies. And his knowledge about his limitations on the field has helped him recover to the fullest for the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
As he expressed, “I know in golf, I can be competitive and hopefully win tournaments for another 12-15 years. The goal was to get this completely behind me and not have to worry about it anymore.”
During the interview, Kaufman had mentioned how he was surprised seeing Thomas bend down to lift Molly. To that, the PGA Tour pro said that he has now reached a stage where he doesn’t feel pain if that happens.

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ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 24: Justin Thomas of the United States hits his tee shot on hole 11 during the final round of the PGA, Golf Herren Tour Championship on August 24, 2025 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA. Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire GOLF: AUG 24 PGA FedEx Cup Playoffs – Tour Championship EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon25082464790
After his surgery in November 2025, the 32-year-old knew he will need to work hard and be patient to reach full fitness. But he still found a way to keep himself conntected to golf.
Justin Thomas’ road to recovery
No bending, lifting, or twisting for two weeks; these were the rules set for Justin Thomas when he began hsi road to recovery. He went through the rehabs to help himself make a quick recovery. So while he was not seen much a few days after his surgery, he did start actively working on himself soon after.
Thomas was seen swinging the ball a couple of months after his surgery. He wasn’t driving jsut as yet. But the PGA Tour pro was seen using his iron on the fairway hitting approach shots.
Then he finally confirmed his comeback event on the PGA Tour recently. Since then, fans have seen him putting and following other drill routines to practice. The thing is, at any point, he didn’t look like he was rushing. That might have helped him get better sooner. But the secret to a mother’s strenght still remained a mystery to him.

