Justin Thomas did not have the week he expected. A PLAYERS Championship is one of the few things missing from his impressive, young resume, but a 73-70 start dug too deep of a hole, although he was much more relevant on the weekend, playing his final two rounds 68-66.
A T11 is nothing special for the 25-year-old who has eight wins (including one major) over the past three years, but the performance was good enough to reach one of his biggest goals: he is now the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world.
“It means a lot, but it’s something I want to have for a long time, it’s not something I just want to have once,” said Thomas.
“To have it for a week and then be done with — like D.J. has and like Tiger did and other guys who have had it for a long time, that’s more of a goal of mine as opposed to just having it.”
While it feels like Dustin Johnson took the No. 1 position in the OWGR from Jason Day just yesterday, as Thomas noted, DJ ended up holding that position for 65 consecutive weeks, the fifth longest No.1 steak in Tour history.
As for Johnson, he needed to finish in the top 11 to stay on top of the rankings for at least another week, and he appeared to be in good shape, sitting in solo-third after three rounds. However, a pedestrian even-par 72, while most of those around him were going low, dropped the 17-time Tour winner to a disappointing T17 result.
