Thomas was born on April 29, 1993, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended North Oldham Middle School. Prior to his junior year in high school, he played in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in August 2009 and became the third-youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event, at 16 years, 3 months and 24 days.[3] Thomas graduated from St. Xavier High School in 2011.[4]
Thomas' father, Mike Thomas, has been the head professional at the Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, since 1990. Thomas grew up an avid fan of his hometown Louisville Cardinals.[7]
Professional career
Thomas turned professional in 2013 and earned his tour card on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school. He won his first professional event at the 2014Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship.[8] Thomas finished fifth in the 2014 Web.com Tour regular season, and third after the Web.com Tour Finals, and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2015 season. In 2015, Thomas collected seven top-10s and 15 top-25s, with fourth-place finishes at the Quicken Loans National and Sanderson Farms Championship as his best results. He finished 32nd at the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, losing the Rookie of the Year award to Daniel Berger.
On November 1, 2015, Thomas earned his first victory on the PGA Tour by winning the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by a single stroke over Adam Scott. He overcame a double bogey on the 14th hole during the final round and holed a six-foot (1.8 m) par putt to claim the win by a stroke. Thomas had earlier shot a course-record 61 during the second round to contribute to a 26-under-par winning score.[9]
2016–17 PGA Tour: five wins, first major, FedEx Cup champion, Player of the Year
Thomas successfully defended his title at the CIMB Classic in October 2016 for his second tour win. Thomas won the SBS Tournament of Champions in January 2017 for his third PGA Tour win.[10] In the following week's tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii, Thomas became the seventh player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. During the first round, he opened his round with an eagle and needed to make an eagle on the ninth, his last hole of the day, to shoot 59.[11] He became the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 round. Thomas finished with rounds of 64, 65, and 65 to win the tournament by 7 strokes. He set tournament records for 18, 36, 54, and 72 holes (59, 123, 188, and 253, respectively). He set PGA Tour records at 36 and 72 holes and tied the 54-hole record.[12]
Hole
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Out
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
In
Total
Par
4
3
4
4
4
4
4
3
5
35
4
4
4
3
4
4
3
4
5
35
70
Score
2
4
4
3
3
4
3
2
4
29
3
3
4
2
4
4
3
4
3
30
59
During the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Thomas equalled the U.S. Open single-round record of 63. He eagled the last hole by hitting his 3-wood to 8 feet on the par-5 hole to finish at 9-under-par, also a U.S. Open record, passing the previous record held by Johnny Miller at Oakmont Country Club. In the fourth round, he played alongside Brian Harman in the final grouping, the first time he had done that in a major championship. He shot a three-over-par 75 and finished in a tie for ninth place.
In October 2017, Thomas won the third event of the 2017–18 season, the CJ Cup in South Korea. He defeated Marc Leishman with a birdie on the second extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. The win was Thomas' seventh on the PGA Tour.[17]
In February 2018, Thomas won for the eighth time on tour, claiming victory at The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He birdied the final hole of regulation play to make a playoff with Luke List. Then on the first extra hole, Thomas made birdie again on the same hole, after a 5-wood from the fairway. List could not hole his birdie putt, after the missing the green to the right, resulting in Thomas winning the tournament. The win lifted Thomas to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and number three in world rankings.[18]
The following week, Thomas lost in a sudden-death playoff to Phil Mickelson, at the WGC-Mexico Championship. He had been even par for the tournament after the first two rounds, but then shot 62–64 over the weekend for a total of 16 under par. To finish his final round, Thomas holed his second shot to the 18th for eagle. Thomas lost the playoff to par, after going over the back of the green in the first extra hole and failing to up and down for par. Thomas moved to number two in the world rankings, a career best ranking.
Thomas had another chance to claim the top spot in the world later on in March at the WGC-Match Play, but he was beaten 3 & 2 by Bubba Watson in the semi-finals. He then went on to lose the consolation match 5 & 3 to Alex Norén to finish in fourth place. The result extended his lead at the top of the FedEx Cup standings and reduced the gap on the world number one, Dustin Johnson.
In September 2018, Thomas qualified for the U.S. team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Europe defeated the U.S. team 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Notwithstanding the loss, Thomas played well. He went 4–1–0. He won his singles match against Rory McIlroy.[21]
On February 17, 2019, Thomas led the Genesis Open entering the final round. Gusty conditions led to Thomas shooting 75 and finishing second to champion J. B. Holmes. At one point, Thomas four-putted for a double bogey, the last three putts were inside 8 feet and the final miss was from 2 feet.[22]
On August 2, 2020, Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind in Tennessee by three strokes over four other players. This was the second time that Thomas had won the event and his 13th career victory on the PGA Tour. He came from four strokes behind overnight leader Brendon Todd to prevail on the final day. The win took Thomas to Number One in the Official World Golf Ranking for the second time in his career.[27]
For the 2021–22 season, Thomas employed Jim "Bones" Mackay to replace his previous caddie, Jimmy Johnson. The last round of golf Johnson caddied for Thomas was at the 2021 Ryder Cup. Mackay stepped into the role at the CJ Cup.
On May 22, 2022, Thomas won his second major and second PGA Championship, defeating Will Zalatoris in a playoff, overcoming a PGA Championship record 7-shot deficit entering the day.[29]
In November 2023, Thomas competed in the inaugural Netflix Cup, streamed as Netflix's first live sports broadcast. Thomas and Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr. played as a team, with the pair winning the event after Thomas won the "Closest to the Pin" style playoff, following 8 holes of scramble-format competition.[31]
Controversy
On January 9, 2021, during the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Thomas drew criticism for using a homophobic slur to express anger over a missed putt.[32] Despite Thomas expressing contrition over the incident, describing his language as "inexcusable", sponsors Ralph Lauren and Woodford Reserve ended their relationships with him.[33][34]
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play NT = no tournament "T" = tied Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.
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