Justin Thomas has been miserably missing cuts lately! After missing the weekend rounds at THE PLAYERS Championship last week, however, he’s now looking more and more like his old 2-time major-winning self at the Innisbrook resort, Copperhead Course. Even though he’s putting up a great fight at the Valspar Championship, JT is struggling to find the right momentum. Quite literally, in some cases.

Tied for 6th towards the top of the leaderboard, the Louisville native has seen many ups and downs through the first two rounds. And as he attempts to navigate through the snake pit, Thomas explains how his recent scrambling on the greens has been both a blessing and a curse!

The Copperhead Course has been a roller coaster ride for Justin Thomas

During JT’s Friday round at the Valspar Championship, the commentator, Steve Sands, called his “ups and downs” (the way Thomas played his shots to navigate the course) “an all-timer”! Post his round on Friday, the golf pro was told off this and asked how he had managed to do it and how he kept going despite the trouble on multiple holes!

“I thought 10 was huge,” Thomas responded promptly, explaining how he managed to save par there despite a wayward hit. “I drove it a lot better today, but I hit a bad drive on 10 again.” The 2-time major winner shot his ball sidelined by the trees on the 10th fairway two days in a row. “They’re bad tee shots, but I just haven’t had anything.”

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Then, talking about keeping his momentum during those missed shots, Thomas described his thought process. “I felt like you get to a spot where you can get it up by the green or on the green, and I just had to chip it out to 65 yards,” he said. JT further elaborated about his scrambling on the back nine, saying, “Getting those up-and-down, those are the kind of things that can change the entire momentum for the back nine. So stuff like that, or the up-and-down on 14 and 15, those are huge.” 

Those same ups and downs during the round helped him save par at times or even bag a birdie, like at holes 10 and 11. But at times they were more of a ban than a bon and saw him card bogeys when it went too far, like on the third hole. And it was exactly this that helped him stay in contention even after a blunder.

JT made a terrible double bogey but turned things around

At the Valspar Championship, Justin Thomas carded a round of 2 under 69, jumping 4 spots on the leaderboard and landing just one stroke off the leader. However, the score could have just as easily been 1 under 70 if not for a comeback birdie at the par-5 14th hole.

Thomas started his round with two back-to-back birdies at the opening holes. 1 bogey and 3 more birdies later, however, he reached hole 13. However, down the road, he made one bogey. There, Thomas’s first shot was in the water hazard, and as he took the penalty for the second one, the ball went up along the trees to the left of the green. He eventually scored a double bogey on the par-3.

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On the 14th hole, however, JT found redemption. After making it onto the fairway from the tee, he unfortunately hit into the rough. Surprisingly, from there, the golf pro wasted no time in holing the ball, making a birdie at the par-5, his last non-par hole for the day.

It was a saving grace for Justin Thomas, as the birdie enabled him to finish inside the top 10, giving him a better shot at the title at the Valspar Championship over the weekend. Whether he’ll be able to capitalize on that, however, remains to be seen.

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