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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 15, 2016

Justin Thomas

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Q. Just assess your week, how you feel about that.
JUSTIN THOMAS: I feel great. I felt really good coming into this week, even off of a missed cut. I played really well last week, I just I looked like I had never putted in my life when I got to the greens. So, I love this course, I get, it's just something about it, it really is one of my favorite courses to play when it gets in this tournament condition. You just can't fake it around here. So I was excited to get on a championship-type venue and a great field like this and obviously today went really well, so I was happy to end on a high note.

Q. What was so different about the greens today in terms of speed? Obviously your confidence was much higher.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I putted well yesterday even too, it's just the hard part -- I think that the thing that kind of went very unnoticed yesterday is it was windy, it was tough to get it to the green. It just was tough to, if you could get it on the green, then you had to get it in the right spots, and it was tough to get it in the rights spots when it's blowing 15 miles an hour.

So they were still very, very fast. I would say they're 13 or so and when you get above the hole it's really hit and hope and try not to have a long putt coming back. So just more speed control and just trying to try to manage it out.

Q. Did the change of grips give you confidence with the putter this week?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yes, definitely.

Q. What got that going? What sparked the change?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Hitting it really well and missing the cut by three last week, I would say, did that, but I, I've gone back and forth my whole life. It's not exactly something I'm happy of, because you don't change putter grips if you're putting well. But it's just, it's kind of been, it's an easy change for me. It wasn't something that was difficult and it felt putter really felt good all week. It felt good.

I just couldn't, like I said last week, I couldn't get it in the hole, so just getting those, those mind frames sometimes where you can see it going in, see the break and Jimmy and I really had some good lines this week and it was just about getting speed when which I felt like I did a good job.

Q. When you got here today did you feel like you had a chance to win this golf tournament or?
JUSTIN THOMAS: No.

Q. Were you just going out there and trying to post a good number and how does that affect you when whichever way you felt?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I didn't think I had a chance to win. I'm about as positive and probably crazy thinking as it comes, thinking I have a chance, but I definitely didn't. It never really entered my mind until at some point today I thought I was like I was 11 back going into, yeah, 11 back and that's not, with Jason Day leading the tournament you wouldn't think that's a chance and I'm just happy that you can, I guess, say I have a chance now.

Q. Is that a positive when you can go into it knowing that or at least thinking you don't have a chance and just go out there and kind of play freer and looser?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I mean I definitely would like to go into the day being two shots back and knowing I had a chance but, yeah, it, I feel like I can definitely learn something from a day like today. I went out there and I would like to think I wouldn't play differently if I was in the last couple groups but, in reality, we didn't really have anything in mind, we were just trying to makes as many birdies as we could and just hit our lines off the tees and into the greens and into the greens and then on the greens. So, hopefully, I can build on that for later.

Q. Was this an important kind of finish or result for you? You talked about the expectations kind of getting ahead of you a little bit. Just how important was a day like this for you?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It was huge just because I felt like I had nothing to show for how I was playing and it's nice to finally have a result that's somewhat up near the top of the leaderboard to show.

Obviously, I didn't, I haven't played as well even the tournaments that I finished, whatever, middle of the pack, but today was one of the best ball striking rounds I've had. I would say I mishit two shots realistically all day. And I putted well.

So, it was just, it's just always nice to, I guess you can call it, get in the hunt, even though I didn't real feel those kind of juices, but just to be up at the top of the leaderboard is nice.

Q. You're one of the few players this season who has won with the 54-hole lead. What was the greatest challenge for you last fall closing that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Probably having Adam Scott chasing me down was pretty difficult. We were actually it was funny as it is we were talking about that coming up 18 how and he was talking about in 2004 how he had a two-shot lead and we are just saying how hard that tee shot is and then he said well, you know, with a two-shot lead, you're trying to get it in the fairway. And then he did that and hit it in the water. And I brought up Malaysia and it's like -- it's hard to win. It is. And I understood that.

And I just was trying to be patient and I think that's why I got it done there, because I just kind of stayed in my process and my mind frame and just hit the shots.

Q. Can you speak to, if Jason holds on he'll have closed the last five tournaments where he's held that 54-hole lead. How difficult is that? How impressive is that?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's very impressive. It's no coincidence he's No. 1 in the world. I mean, he drives it extremely far, extremely straight. He hits it to the moon, so he can access pins that most people can't. His short game's ridiculous. I think I've pretty much covered it all there when it comes to the golf, so I would say that's why he's done so well. And he has a really good mental game, too, which is, I would say, more than half the battle.

Q. After yesterday, did you have any idea what to expect on the greens today or was it a matter of you had to get a couple holes under your belt to really know what you were dealing with?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not really, I didn't think they would be too much different. I knew they were still going to be fast, but I honestly didn't think they were that firm yesterday they were very crusty, but it was, they still have a soft base and you can feel it when you fix a ball mark, it's just, I mean I'm sure they just, conditions of the green, I don't know if it's weather or what it is, but it's not how, I'm sure it's not how they would like it, but the greens are rolling great, but they just don't have that kind of that firmness underneath them.

But it was just, I wasn't sure, you never really know at the start of the day how firm they're going to be, but you kind of get a rhythm and get a feel for it watching yourself and your playing partners, but, yeah, you just trying to get a feel for it I guess to start the day.

Q. When you shoot around like you did today, when you leave here do you go back and think, well, I can think of one or two shots on Thursday?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Always. It's golf. I can think of shots today I could have had that I didn't. But you can't think about that. I made a great birdie on 18, one of the hardest holes of the week, so that's all I'm really thinking about right now.

Q. Are you going to stick around for a little while?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Got to.

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