Thomas keeping quiet about Tiger’s Masters secrets

Justin Thomas has learned a few Masters secrets while practising at Augusta National with pal Tiger Woods over the last week, and he’s keeping them to himself.

It’s one of the reasons why the 28-year-old American, who considers himself a great underachiever when it comes to winning golf’s major championships, will be among the favourites when the year’s first major gets underway on Thursday.

“To be perfectly honest, what I value the most, I’m not going to tell you because I don’t really want any of the other competitors knowing it,” Thomas said Tuesday.

Picking the brain of a 15-time major champion and five-time Masters champion like Woods is beneficial.

“I’m not necessarily asking him a lot of specifics about here,” Thomas said. “When I’m asking him stuff at home, it’s just like I would ask Jon Rahm a question or ask Jordan a question.

“I feel like Tiger’s been a good person for me to do that. But, yeah, I guess I’m very fortunate in that regard.”

Thomas also got a front-row seat to Woods’ shotmaking during last week’s 18-hole practise round at Augusta National, as well as nine-hole tours on Sunday and Monday, as the superstar tries to make an epic comeback 14 months after suffering horrific leg injuries in a car accident.

Thomas also got a front-row seat to Woods’ shotmaking during last week’s 18-hole practise round at Augusta National, as well as nine-hole tours on Sunday and Monday, as the superstar tries to make an epic comeback 14 months after suffering horrific leg injuries in a car accident.

“It’s plenty, good enough to play well,” Thomas said of Woods’s game, on display before a huge crowd of supportive spectators on Monday.

“That’s probably more people than have ever watched me play a round at Augusta National, and they weren’t there to watch me,” Thomas said.

Thomas, the 2017 PGA Championship winner, has only one previous top-five finish in 24 major appearances, a fourth-place performance at the Masters in 2020.

“I have not even close to performed well in my entire career in majors,” Thomas said. “I had a good year in ’17. I had one good major there at the PGA and played well at the Masters here in ’20.”

Thomas is concerned that he is setting himself an unrealistic objective of winning the Masters.

“I feel like I’ve performed very, very poorly. I’ve learned, but I’ve just put too much pressure on myself in the past and maybe put the tournament on too much of a pedestal and tried to just overdo things,” he said.

“I should have faith in my game and the things that I can do with the golf ball.

“I clearly still haven’t found what my answer is, but obviously I’m getting very close.”

‘A very grueling week’

He has an example to follow in Woods, whose comeback bid has been inspiring.

“It’s crazy. Nobody has a work ethic and determination like him,” Thomas said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in terms of setting your mind to something and proving to yourself and everybody that you can do it.

“It’s unbelievable the stuff that he can do given everything.”

The 7,510-yard Masters layout was already the hardest players face on legs that aren’t surgically repaired.

“This is always a very grueling week physically,” Thomas said. “It’s a very difficult course to walk. It’s the toughest of the year. It’s very long, very hilly.

“A lot of long walks back to tees… add that along with some of the craziest undulation and terrain of any course we’ll play all year, it produces some pretty tired, sore legs at the end of the week.”