Justin Thomas said there is “no scenario” in which his return from a sixth-month absence following back surgery provides an excuse for poor play and high scores.
A year removed from tying the course record at TPC Sawgrass, Thomas returns to The Players Championship this week on the heels of finishing last in the field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In his first start since a microdiscectomy in November, Thomas carded a pair of 79s at Bay Hill to miss the weekend by a dozen shots.
He altered plans to play over the weekend, taking Saturday to “decompress” before playing TPC Sawgrass with Sam Burns on Sunday.
“It just took a little bit. I was really, really, really down and bummed Friday,” Thomas said on Monday ahead of The Players this week. “I wasn’t expecting anything unbelievable by any means. But there’s no scenario where I’m OK and think that it’s fine to shoot that poorly and put those kind of scores up.
“I really just needed a little bit of time to decompress and think about it and just almost regroup, if you will.”
Thomas acknowledged that making his return by playing two of the most difficult events on tour was not ideal. He has consulted with fellow pros who have had similar procedures, and all shared the sentiment that no one has been too patient in returning to competition.
So, while Thomas was playing rounds of golf in February, he avoided the temptation to return during the West Coast swing at an event like the Genesis Invitational, which is played at one of his favorite courses in Riviera. And he did not play the Cognizant Classic in South Florida two weeks ago, because that would have meant playing four consecutive weeks — something Thomas has said he has never enjoyed doing in his career, much less while returning from a long layoff.
He wasn’t going to skip a signature event at Bay Hill or The Players, which he won five years ago for his biggest victory outside of Thomas’ pair of majors. After TPC Sawgrass, it’s off to the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook, a course outside Tampa where Thomas feels like he has a great chance to win every year.
“There’s no scenario that I ever would draw up or be OK with in terms of how long I’ve taken off and how long I haven’t played if I’m going to come back and shoot the scores,” he said. “I’m never going to say that that’s OK. I am still going to be a little easier on myself than normal.
“(Bay Hill is) not a very great event to come back to, to be perfectly honest,” Thomas added with a laugh. “… It just was something where (taking) that much time off, I generally am a little bit rusty just in terms of the thought process and kind of how you’re plotting your way around during a tournament.”
While expectations for this week are likely tempered following last week’s scores, Thomas is keeping the big picture in focus.
“I’m 32 years old. I can play this sport competitively and really, really well for another 10 to 15 years like no problem if I just go about this how I should,” he said.
“If I struggle at the beginning of the year to come back from this injury and I go win a couple majors this year, like nobody’s going to remember that I just shot 14 over at Bay Hill, right?”
