No tournaments. No range sessions. Just a floor, a resistance band, and a rehab schedule three days a week. That was Justin Thomas’ life after undergoing microdiscectomy in November 2025 because of a herniated disc pressing on the nerve in his lower back. At Colonial’s press conference on Wednesday, Thomas broke his silence on the recovery.

“You do so, so, so much every day to each day to wake up the next day to feel exact same. You do for what I feel like was a long time. So that s-cks, to be perfectly honest. You try as best as you can to look ahead, like all the stuff I’m doing is going to pay off, but it surely doesn’t feel like that when you’re going through it.”

For four weeks, Thomas was confined to breathing drills and glute activation—no bending, no lifting, no twisting. By mid-December, he had graduated to stationary biking and slightly more structured movements. He had also started sharing his gym clips and resistance band videos on social media throughout.

But each video looked like the last—same band, same floor, same monotony. “I was pretty stir-crazy,” he said. The surgery also cost him scheduled trips to the revived Skins Game, the Hero World Challenge, and the PNC Championship with his father, all of which he had to skip. Shane Lowry replaced him in the Skins Game field. He also sat out TGL Season 2’s late-December opener. Jordan Spieth’s counsel was universal: You never come back too late. Take your time.

Returning to the course took until February, after he cleared full golf activity. Thomas is back through TGL before targeting the Arnold Palmer Invitational as his PGA Tour return. Bay Hill was punishing: 14 over, dead last. Thomas called it a disaster.

“I could find probably hundreds of people that know more than me about it that will tell me what I did was stupid and why I shouldn’t have done it. But at the end of the day I could do that regardless of what I did, right?”

The scorecard vindicated him: back-to-back 68s at the Players Championship. At Aronimink, he closed with a Sunday 65, holding the clubhouse lead for much of the afternoon before settling for T4 at the PGA Championship.

With Colonial underway, Thomas eyes a busy stretch ahead

Colonial is Thomas’s first start since the PGA Championship. He last played here in 2022. The renovated layout, which now features lower green and more accessible run-up shots, plays to a player who can shape the ball and control approach distances.

Beyond this week, the schedule ahead is significant. The U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills—a venue and format that rewards exactly the precise ball-striking Thomas is built for—is on June 18. He has also confirmed his entry into the Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club from July 9-12, a Rolex Series event that leads directly into the Open Championship the following week. Thomas, who first played in Scotland at the start of his professional career, called it an exciting two weeks in the UK. Now, for the player who spent the better part of six months rebuilding from the floor up, the summer stretch ahead is where the full picture of his comeback will come into focus.