Justin Thomas has a new tattoo on the inside of his upper right arm. It’s the signature of his grandfather Paul Thomas, the family’s first of three generations of PGA golfers. (His father Mike, who’s also his coach, is the second generation of PGA pros.)
Paul died in early February but before he passed away, he got to see his signature tattooed on his famous grandson’s arm. Or at least a photo of it.
JT used his grandmother to obtain the Thomas patriarch’s signature.
“I said, `This is weird, but can you have grandpa sign something?'” said Thomas, ahead of the Scottish Open at The Renaissance.
“His signature is very Arnold Palmer like, and I always remembered that. I asked her to send me a picture of it.
“She said, `Should I even bother asking?’ I told her no.”
After getting the tattoo, Thomas texted the photo to his family, which was shown to his grandfather.
“He called me and said he would be charging me residuals every time he saw it on TV,” said a smiling Thomas.
The tat is the second one for Thomas. His other one is also small, and appears on his left arm, located under his elbow. It’s also a tribute to his family which includes three vertical lines that represent himself alongside his father and mother. A horizontal line goes across the top to form a “T” for Thomas.
