Justin Thomas, No Longer Doubting, Shoots Second 67 at PGA Championship

The 2017 PGA champion expertly negotiated windy conditions at Southern Hills and is 6 under, three shots back heading to the weekend.

Justin Thomas played nearly flawless on Friday morning despite gusty winds all over Southern Hills :: Orlando Ramirez/USA Today

TULSA, Okla. – For a player who began the tournament doubting his swing and questioning his own father’s wisdom, Justin Thomas finds himself in a pretty good spot through 36 holes of the PGA Championship.

Another 3-under-par 67 at Southern Hills Country Club had him atop the leaderboard as the afternoon wave of players began the second round, with Thomas able to sit back and take stock of a productive two days. He eventually landed at third on the leaderboard, three shots back of leader Will Zalatoris.

“Very pleased. I felt I played — although I played solid yesterday, I played really, really well today,’’ said Thomas, who is at 134, 6 under par. “The conditions were obviously very difficult. I stayed very patient, tried to get in my own little world and get in a zone and just tried to execute each shot the best I could.

“I felt we did a great job of that and am glad to have a good round to show for it.’’

The morning belonged to Justin Thomas. 👏#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/sMQt8UQe09

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 20, 2022

Thomas, a 14-time winner on the PGA Tour who won the 2017 PGA Championship, has developed a reputation as a player who performs well in tough conditions. On Saturday at the Players Championship, for example, when temperatures plummeted and winds howled, Thomas had one of the best rounds.

On Thursday, his 67 was the lowest of the afternoon wave, when conditions were considerably tougher than they had been during the morning.

And he credited a little talk he had with himself and his dad, Mike, who also serves as his swing coach, for getting things sorted.

“I think it’s because I focus a lot more on what I'm trying to do in terms of the shot I'm trying to hit, the trajectory, the distance, and think less about golf swing,’’ he said. “I really wasn't pleased with how my range sessions have gone this week and just how I've felt over the ball, and I got a little frustrated (Wednesday) with my dad (Mike, his coach), and I'm just trying to figure out how to feel better over the ball.

“Then he was like, 'well, let’s just start trying to hit some shots, like put a stick out, like let's hit some fades, hit some draws,’ and then immediately just started flushing it and hitting it how I wanted.

“It's one of those things I pretty much need to suck it up ... and when I'm out there playing a competitive round I can't try to get my club in certain positions and whatnot, and I think when I get in conditions like this, I just get out there and I try to hit shots and try to hit numbers as opposed to trying to get it in a certain position and going from there.’’

The timing is good. Thomas has been irritated in his inability to win of late. Not just a major, but anywhere. His last victory came at the 2021 Players Championship, where he hit 17 of 18 greens in the final round at TPC Sawgrass to shoot 64.

But he went into a lull after that, going eight straight tournaments without a top 10. He added five top 10s after that and six more this year, his best a tie for third at the Valspar Championship, where he missed a playoff by a shot. Last week, Thomas tied for fifth at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Starting on the 10th hole, Thomas made birdies at the 10th and 13th holes, made a bogey at the 14th and then made eight straight pars while enduring some of the windiest conditions.

He birdied the fifth hole to tie first-round leader Rory McIlroy – who had yet to tee off – and then added another birdie at the 9th hole, his last, leaving himself just 90 yards after a 303-yard tee shot and knocking it to 9 feet before converting the putt.

“I felt quite a bit better today,’’ said Thomas, who was suffering with allergies earlier in the week. “I think just being as windy as it was, it was a lot of manipulating and different shots. The way I played the last hole, I couldn't have really drawn it up any or much better. A perfect kind of little slider driver and leaving that gap wedge just under the hole there and making that putt right in the middle. That was a nice way to end it.

“But that 6-iron that I hit on 5 today was nice. To be able to hit that thing up on the top shelf pin-high from 213 with a pumping cross wind off the left and then to make that putt, I felt like I stole one there. That was a sweet shot.’’

And now Thomas has set himself up for a potentially sweet weekend.

More PGA Championship Coverage from Morning Read

> Round 2 Scores, Updates from Southern Hills
> Will Zalatoris Leads as Luck of the Draw Splits Field at PGA Championship
> Fighting Through Pain to Make Cut in Another Major, Tiger Woods Can Smile
> Out of Nowhere, Bubba Watson Shoots 63 to Tie PGA Championship Record
> Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay Among Those Missing Cut
> World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler a Surprise Missed Cut
> Matt Fitzpatrick Changing His Major Championship Luck
> Round 2 PGA Notes: Aaron Wise Beaned, Stewart Cink Rising, Bunker Complaints
> A Relaxed Justin Thomas Appears on ESPN "MegaCast" While Leading PGA

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