Justin Thomas’s Quadruple Bogey on 18 Encapsulated His Awful First Round at the Open

A trying opening round ended in disaster for the two-time major champion.

Any golfer who has ever teed it up at their local public course knows precisely the feeling Justin Thomas likely experienced on his 18th hole odyssey during Thursday’s opening round at the British Open.

It was an arduous day for the two-time major champion before the final hole even got underway. Thomas was 7 over par through 17 holes, and likely was hoping for something positive to end his round and give him some momentum to take a run at making the cut on Friday. Instead, disaster struck.

Thomas carded a calamitous quadruple bogey to end his day, enduring a nightmare sequence around the green in which he hit his ball from one bunker into another, then had to hit his next shot backwards just to find some grass.

One final pot bunker incident™️ to end Thursday. JT had to play the next shot backwards as well pic.twitter.com/HJGWQDGOBm

— Fried Egg Golf (@fried_egg_golf) July 20, 2023

This was for bogey. pic.twitter.com/ZbKm5qo0aS

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) July 20, 2023

In many ways, Thomas’s bunker blowup was a fitting bookend to his round, as he chunked a chip into a sand trap on the first hole (which he bogeyed). He ended up 11 over for the day, shooting his second round in the 80s at a major tournament this year.

Thomas has had difficulty finding his form of late, and Thursday’s round was merely a continuation of his struggles. He’s missed the cut in three of his previous four starts and is certainly in danger of falling short again this week. Here’s hoping one of the game’s biggest stars can figure things out sooner rather than later.