Golf Central breaks down Justin Thomas’ Round 2 at the Valspar Championship, which saw some struggles off the tee but plenty of saves to keep himself right in the thick of things. #GolfChannel #PGATour #valsparchampionship #JustinThomas
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Creativity helps Justin Thomas stay in thick of Valspar Championship | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome tour golf ball from Callaway greetings and welcome Steve Bowski Jim Gallagher Jr with you for this golf Central update the PGA Tour wrapping up there Florida swing at the valpar championship and one of the big names heading into this week Justin
Thomas shot three under 68 on Thursday Jim birded is opening hole on Friday afternoon as we watch his second at the second yeah he had to get off to a good start tough conditions with the wind blown this a straight down win and what a shot there to match up with that
Birdie at the first he makes it at the second as well crowd’s excited and for good reason two in a row JT five under then at the par five fifth hole birdie look here gu Ho’s been playing over pars a par five you don’t see that often but he makes the birdie
Nice so he’s out of the gates quickly then we arrive to the par 38 he made birdie here on Thursday could he do it two straight days D well he hit in there about 2 fet look at this putt right here yes wow what a start great opening nine
For Justin Thomas he would move to six under par but trouble off the te at the par 410 yeah I got a little root canal problem here but the bad drive it sees he’s just going to try to play the safe shot very fortunate to even have a shot
Played the smart shot get it back out into play and that’s what he had to do from where he had it he scrambled very nicely on Thursday had to do the same could he get up and down for a all world four here at the 10th yeah this is more
Than just a chip shot this is a little Sand Wedge shot spins it back nicely 10th hole has been a tough hole today well played shot there he would make par stay at six under then at the par five 11th little wedge in hand yeah drove it left and then just
Had to hit a low hook just back out into play again back to back HS can he hit the wedge shot in there and he does that would lead to another birdie that would move Justin Thomas to seven under par he was cruising right along until he reach reach the T at
13 yeah he was just hitting everything really smooth with his iron driver was a little off but just kind of fans this back up into that right to left wi it doesn’t go anywhere just loses it into a gust terrible shot for him into the water he would make double bogey Justin
Thomas Falls to five under par then at the par five 14th how good is this oh I got so lucky to even get a drop in a decent part of the uh rough there it was kind of bare actually but still you’ve got to hit the shot what an
Incredible shot there to make birdie from nowhere that would get JT back to six under par then at the 18th his second right from the middle of the Fairway and that’s where you got to get at this whole location on the back right and he swipes across this one and it
Loses it right very similar to the par three 13th in the bunker short game wouldn’t save him there he would make bogey a disappointing finish for Justin Thomas but all in all two under 69 on Friday in the house at 5 under halfway home and when he was done he caught up
With Kira k Dixon well 5 under for Justin Thomas through two days here at the valbar championship finished up when the rain started bit of a roller coaster of a day for you I don’t know how you would describe it but what was it like keeping that mental stamina going when you’re
Dealing with a lot out on the golf course yeah I think I finished on 18 kind of sums it up I um I I truly just feel like I completely lost my concentration and what was going on and just hit a terrible iron shot there uh
Yeah it was weird I mean I I think we got very lucky with the weather I mean I know those guys had a lot of win this morning I mean we had we had some this afternoon it just it was very Gusty and that made that back nine very
Challenging um but yeah I scrambled really well and I hit a lot a lot of really really quality golf shots and uh I mean just I picked a bad time to to have the worst shot of the tournament so far but I’m in a great place with with
Two days left speaking of the impressive scrambling on the broadcast Steve Sans your up and in altimer you were in the trees you were by fences what were some of the most important moments that stuck out to you in terms of keeping the momentum going considering how hard it
Was out there yeah I thought 10 was huge um I I drove it a lot better today but I hit a bad drive on 10 again and and you can get you can get lucky on some of these holes or you have in Pine straw
You can really work the ball and i’ I’ve hit it over there two days in a row I mean they’re bad t- shots but uh I just haven’t had anything and it’s like you know I felt like you get a spot where you can get it up by the green or on the
Green and I just had to chip it out to 65 yards or something like that and getting that up and down I mean those are the kind of things that uh can kind of change the entire momentum for the back nine so stuff like that or or the
Up and down on 14 and 15 those are uh those are huge based on what you saw in your swing today and yesterday what is the most important Focus for you tomorrow just keep doing what I’m doing I think I need to just stay disciplined
And um I mean there’s a lot of holes out here I think with you have the clubs in your hands that you do and you know like 18 I I have a little eight iron in and it’s hard to not think birdie when you just have some pins that aren’t really
Birdie pins and um you know I think I did have I’ve done a really really good job of that for 35 holes uh I just didn’t do it on my last but uh yeah just keep doing what I’m doing I’ll be all right Justin Thomas in position coming
Off the miscut at the Players Championship a week ago and take a look at his performance the week after in his PGA Tour career he’s made the cut near 80% of the time a scoring average in the neighborhood of 69.6 11 top 10 uh finishes and then that victory at the
FedEx Jude St Jude Invitational that back in 2018 so sort of two stories Jim when you look at Justin Thomas let’s focus on the first 36 holes it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride what are some of your positive takeaways from what you’ve seen on Thursday and
Friday well he mentioned he hadn’t driven the ball well but it’s his creativity uh when he does get it out of Play Short game’s been phenomenal but he’s hit some drives in some areas you just you really got to look back at round one he shot here at the fifth now
This is his second shot he’s got to hit a big roping hook I mean hit that’s a Scotty Sheffer likee finish problem with this is he over hooked it it’s a kind of a tricky little layup anyway even if he hit the Fairway but now he’s got it over
Here under the pine straws he mentioned that he could do it this is his fourth shot but look how he had to flip it over with his hands he’s just trying to get it back into play actually that was his third shot to give himself a chance to
Get it up and down and he would do that and save so uh that was big here now let’s go to round two let’s go to 10 right here in the roots I mean that ball another three Ines close to the roots and he’s taking an unplayable
Fortunately he could just get it back in play and he does just that that takes some discipline to be able to do that he only hit it maybe 70 yards it leaves himself 65 yards you’ll get that up and down and save par once again let’s go to
The 11th he drove it left here got very lucky it didn’t get in the penalty area and had to take it unplayable or not but if it actually had a shot this is his second no penalties at all no unplayable and he gets it back into play and leaves
Himself a full shot coming in he hit a nice wed shot in there and he’ll make birdie so uh you know you look at those shots there’s plenty other ones you go with but when he got the ball in the Fairway he was able to go at these flags
But it’s a bunched up leaderboard he’s going to have to drive the ball he said he felt like it drove it better so obviously he’s trusting his swing he’s been able to use that creativity it’s a tough Golf Course tough conditions today but some great saves have kept him right
In there bigger picture for Justin Thomas it’s been 22 months since he last won on the PGA tour you got to go all the way back to May of 22 when he won the PGA Championship how can all his past success maybe help him finally end
The streak and get back to where he belongs well I think he’s in a good place now I think he got into a bad place last year where ball striking was putting pressure on the putting putting putting pressure on the ball striking he just never had it in sync you know he
Made a nice run to try to get to the playoffs and finish just outside which was top 70 for the first time uh but I think for him he’s going in the right direction he’s had some good finishes he was right there in the final group at
American Express and and lost to to Dunlap but I mean you go back out there and you see him going in the right direction and I think that’s an interesting stat to see when he misses the cut and how well he’s played after that but he’s playing some good golf uh
It may not be maybe as easy looking as he would like it to be but I think he’s used creativity and that confidence to get it done uh and I think he’s going to have to continue that you’re going to have to scramble it’s a bunched up leaderboard you’re going to miss some
Fairways but he’s got to get it and play a little bit better off the team you referenced the American Express Justin told me back in January he’s motivated to win put 2023 behind him he has an opportunity after rounds of 68 and 69 to get things going at the valbar
Championship he’ll head into Saturday at 5 under par
