Some would describe Justin Thomas’ day on the green as a bad, scary, gut-wrenching day.
He lost over seven strokes in the third round of the Valspar Championship, totaling an astonishing 38 putts in the process. He couldn’t hit a single putt over 3 feet.
Thomas started the day with a birdie on the par-5 first hole and sank a 2-foot, 9-inch putt to take a share of the lead at 6 under. But it ended up being the longest putt Thomas hit all day.
His troubles began on the next hole, the second par-4. He missed a seven-foot par, but that only served as a harbinger of things to come.
He also missed a 5-foot par on his third shot, and suddenly the train started going off the tracks.
Four holes later, on the par-4 seventh, Thomas three-putted from 10 feet.that Lowlights contained mistakes He settled for a double bogey from 2 feet 3 inches.
Three consecutive bogeys followed from the 7th, and by the time Thomas stood on the 11th tee, he was suddenly over par for the victory.
Two more bogeys on the 12th and 14th holes dropped him to 8 over for the day and 3 over for the tournament.
His freezing cold putter caused him to fall from first place to worst, dropping nearly 70 spots on the leaderboard. He currently trails 54-hole leader Keith Mitchell by 13 strokes.
It’s not like Thomas did anything else good either. He lost strokes approaching the green, lost strokes around the green, but managed to gain 1.224 strokes off the tee.
Ironically, Thomas struggled from the tee throughout 2023, a poor season by his standards. But that was his best attribute on Saturday, when he shot an 8-over 79.
If these putting woes continue in the coming weeks, or even at Augusta National, Thomas will likely follow Scottie Scheffler and switch to a mallet putter.
The move paid off for Scheffler, who went on to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
Perhaps a similar move would help Thomas. Because his performance couldn’t have been worse than on Saturday. Even at the US Open, a professional golfer shouldn’t record 38 putts during a round.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
