Justin Thomas, who hasn't won as a professional since the 2022 PGA Championship, arrived at Sentry with plenty of confidence.
He even believes he can have a Scottie Scheffler-like season in 2025.
“I understand that it's not realistic in terms of percentages or the possibility of that happening, and it probably isn't realistic, but I still completely believe that we can have the kind of year that Scotty had. '' Thomas said ahead of the season opener on Maui.
“I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't at least think I could do it. Although I have strong belief and ability in my game and feel like I'm working on the right things,” , simply because you think you can do it and that you deserve it. It doesn't happen because I think I have to work harder than other people and I have to do the right thing. I believe in it, but that doesn't mean it will or won't happen.”
Of course, Scheffler finished the 2024 season with nine wins, including wins at Augusta National, TPC Sawgrass and the Olympics. He recently won the Hero World Challenge, with Thomas holding a one-one lead over Scheffler after 54 holes. However, the world No. 1 won by six points and once again proved why he is in a league of his own. Thomas slumped on the final day, finishing seventh with a 1-under 71.
Despite this, Thomas showed significant improvement in 2024 compared to the 2023 season, making three of the four major cuts and missing the FedEx Cup Playoffs entirely. In August of this year, he snuck into the Tour Championship and made great strides. So this year he has a more robust schedule that guarantees him a place in all eight signature events, including Maui this week.
But despite the results saying otherwise, Thomas doesn't feel it's that far off.
“That's the crazy thing that people don't see or necessarily analyze. It's that people look at you and say, 'Oh, this is a completely different year than that.' Statistically, when you look at it over a year, it really wasn’t that different,” Thomas said.
“It's a very, very fine line here. I don't think it's a secret to anyone, but in some cases, it can probably look stretched.”
Although he finished in the top 10 six times in 2024, two more than in 2023, Presidents Cup captain Jim Furyk left Thomas in September for the U.S. team for the first time in eight years. I was out of it. Thomas, who hides his heart and evokes more patriotism than most, feels “pissed off” by the snub and now faces the Ryder Cup year with plenty of anger and passion.
Perhaps it will help him evoke a Scheffler-like season.
“I haven't had a chance to play angry for a while, so I'm really excited to be able to play a little bit angry this year,” Thomas added.
“Even though I didn’t deserve to be on the team, I always thought and knew in my heart that I could be a good player to be on the team.”
No one knows how Thomas' 2025 season will go, but one thing's for sure: he's bound to win. He already has 15 career wins on the PGA Tour, but his last win was more than 31 months ago. Perhaps all he needs is one win and that could open the floodgates for more wins and push him into territory where he believes he can sit alongside Scheffler, the best in the world. .
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
