Sullivan | Thomas talks trash, cleans up on PGA Tour

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Justin Thomas says he is aiming for even keel. His trademark, however, is turbulence.

Once an admittedly “cranky” loser, Louisville’s breakthrough PGA Tour star can also wear you out when he’s winning. He scored an eagle on the first hole of a practice round last week and was henceforth unmerciful in taunting his playing partners.

“I’m always jawing,” Thomas said Wednesday at PGA National, on the eve of the Honda Classic. “I’m always talking, whether it’s good or bad, but I’m usually talking some sort of trash. ... I think we were 1 or 2 up through five or six (holes) and I just kept laying into them and making fun of Jon (Curran) for not hitting it real far.”

Finally, Curran’s caddie had heard enough.

“Boy, you know, you win three tournaments this year and you really turned into a (jerk),” said John “Cubby” Burke.

“Actually, I kind of always have been,” Thomas replied. “We just don’t play that many practice rounds together.”

If Jordan Spieth embodies the poise and decorum desired in a young champion, his fellow 23-year-old phenom attacks professional golf with as much attitude as aptitude.

MORE

► Justin Thomas' father: 'I'm thrilled for him'
► Players, commissioner weigh in on whether 59 has lost its luster

When Thomas won back-to-back tournaments last month in Hawaii, becoming the youngest tour player to shoot a round of 59 in the process, Spieth said that success potentially signaled “floodgates opening” for his friend. To hear Thomas tell it, though, those victories merely confirmed what he already knew.

“I had the confidence that I could do it in the past,” he said. “Just didn’t necessarily have the resume to go with it. But now, I guess maybe I could have a little more swag when I’m walking out there.”

The son and grandson of club professionals, Justin Thomas has carried himself with considerable swag since he was a small boy, long before he starred at St. Xavier High School and the University of Alabama. He won so often and so young that he might easily have thought it his birthright. Upon finishing second in one junior tournament, he initially refused to accept the runner-up trophy.

“He was probably 10,” said Mike Thomas, the player’s father. “He had won like the first 15 tournaments he played in and he didn’t want to go get (the trophy). It was probably born out of Tiger (Woods) saying stuff like, ‘I don’t like to play for second place.’

“We had a little heart-to-heart. I told him, ‘If you don’t get that trophy, this could be your last event.’ He finally succumbed.”

Thomas played in his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old, and made the cut in the Wyndham Championship. But after opening the tournament with a five-under-par 65, he stumbled to a 72 in the second round.

“A TV station asked for an interview, I gave it to them, then went home,” Thomas told Golf Digest. “After I cooled off, I turned on the TV and saw myself being interviewed in all my irritable glory. I made a promise to myself to turn it around. I’m older and have done a lot better, but like I say, I hate bad golf.”

Thomas’ maturation process is ongoing, but his progress is plain. Last October, he shot a front-nine 40 in the third round of the CIMB Classic in Malaysia, but rallied to win the tournament.

“He wouldn’t have done that the year before,” Mike Thomas said of his son. “He would have just turned in a 75 or 76, finished top 10 and went home. (But) he fought back because he was in the right mindset to be able to fight back. His patience level in Hawaii, when his lead went from five (strokes) to one (in the SBS Tournament of Champions), I’m not sure a year ago he would have held on.”

At the urging of his father and his agents, Thomas has sought advice from sports psychologist Bob Rotella. He is trying to channel his hatred for bad golf into something more useful.

“He handles bad situations so much better than he used to,” Mike Thomas said. “There were a couple instances where the public noticed him berating himself with some foul language.

“What makes him good is he’s not willing to accept anything other than excellence. (But) that can work against you because that’s really not going to happen all the time.”

It has happened often enough that Justin Thomas will tee off Thursday morning ranked second on the PGA Tour’s money list behind Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, ranked fourth in scoring average and having earned more than $10 million as a touring pro.

Thomas was maybe 10 years old when he first announced a goal of being the world’s No. 1 player. He enters this week at No. 8.

“Whatever sport I ended up playing, I did it to be the best in the world,” he said Wednesday. “I hope to get there at some point in my career and hopefully stay there for a while. ...

“It would be so cool to me to just be able to pull up those World Rankings and you’ve got a 1 next to your name. There’s nobody in the planet that’s ahead of you. Doesn’t matter what they have done in their career, how many times they have won, this or that; at that point you’re the best in the world.”

Woe to the playing partners who have to listen to that trash talk.

Tim Sullivan can be reached at (502) 582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com or @TimSullivan714 on Twitter.