Justin Thomas spent 2025 proving doubters wrong. Now he’s spending early 2026 proving patience right.

The 16-time PGA Tour winner posted a video on Instagram this week, bundled up against an unusually cold Florida day. No golf content. No swing updates. Just Thomas walking, talking, and claiming a rare victory in an ongoing domestic competition.

“Adding one to the tally. This doubled my total and brought the total to 1,350,612-2,” he wrote.

The joke required no explanation. Thomas had insisted on keeping cold-weather jackets despite living in Florida for 11 years. His wife Jillian, thought it unnecessary. Florida delivered a verdict in his favor, and Thomas wasn’t letting the moment pass uncelebrated.

A small window into life during recovery. But beneath the humor sits a more significant story: a resurgent 2025 season interrupted by surgery, and a 2026 calendar that won’t wait forever.

Rewind to April 2025, and Thomas stood on the 18th green at Harbour Town Golf Links, a 21-foot birdie putt dropping to seal a playoff victory over Andrew Novak at the RBC Heritage. The win shattered a drought spanning 1,071 days — nearly three years since his 2022 PGA Championship triumph. Jillian and five-month-old daughter Molly watched from behind the ropes. First title as a father. First exhale in a long time.

“When the ball went in, it was pure joy,” Thomas said afterward. “I just was so happy. I couldn’t stop smiling.”

The victory wasn’t an outlier. Thomas compiled eight top-10 finishes across 2025, banked over $10.8 million, and climbed back inside the world’s top 10. At Bethpage Black in September, he contributed two points from four Ryder Cup matches and defeated Tommy Fleetwood in singles. Then came the interruption.

Thomas had played through discomfort for months. The pain worsened before the Masters and persisted through the Ryder Cup. What initially presented as nagging hip trouble turned out to be a disc pressing on a spinal nerve root. On November 14, 2025, he underwent a microdiscectomy at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

“Doing nothing is not something I’m very good at,” Thomas admitted during the initial weeks of restrictions.

Recovery stretched methodically: core work by mid-December, chipping and putting by early January, full swings by late January.

Jordan Spieth, who missed events in early 2025 following his own surgery, offered Thomas advice that athletes across sports had echoed: “You never come back too late, so take your time.”

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Justin Thomas eyes Florida Swing return as major season looms

Thomas currently sits ninth in the Official World Golf Ranking, his exempt status secured through 2027. Missing Signature Events costs FedExCup points, not access. The math favors patience.

The Genesis Invitational in mid-February looms as a possible return destination. The Florida Swing follows — Cognizant Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational, THE PLAYERS Championship, Valspar Championship — before the major season arrives. The Masters begins April 9. The Presidents Cup at Medinah awaits in September.

Thomas was the Valspar runner-up in 2025. He won THE PLAYERS in 2021. The Florida Swing isn’t just a soft landing — it’s familiar ground where his game has historically sharpened.

For now, Thomas walks through cold Florida mornings, scores rare wins against his wife, and waits. The comeback will arrive when the spine allows it.