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TRAVELERS CHAMPIONSHIP

August 7, 2016

Justin Thomas

Cromwell, Connecticut

Q. Justin, great round of golf on this Sunday. 8-under par, 12-under for the tournament, five birdies in a row to close the front nine. Your thoughts on how it went out there today?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, obviously it was a great day, but just to finish on a high note like that, I really played well the first three days and got absolutely nothing out of it. I really kind of feel like I've done that for the last two months. I've played well and hitting really good putts and so many lip-outs and kind of the bounces here and there weren't going my way. I've just tried to keep staying positive and say things were going to start happening, and hopefully today is kind of a turn for me. 34-footer at 9, 24 at 16 for birdie, 129 feet worth of putts today. You were rolling the flat stick.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I was. Like I said, I really felt good over it, and I really, really hit some good putts and they just weren't going in. I can see the lines a little bit better today and I got myself in some spots where I could make them.

Felt like I could be aggressive with the putts that I had and just more importantly, just kind of stay in my process and routine and just hit the putts, and they were going in.

Q. Set up the course for us. Is it very gettable?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it is. There's no reason. You see low rounds every day. It's very gettable. It's short, so if you're driving it well, you're going to have short irons in your hands, and you give us short irons and you're going to see some low numbers. I feel like off the tee is a premium. You've got to make sure you're hitting the fairways and hitting the greens. It's starting to get a little bit firmer out there, but it's a great setup, I think.

Q. I think you were about an hour into your round when Jim Furyk was finishing his. Did you keep an eye on the leaderboard?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely. I told Jimmy, my caddie, I wasn't going to look at leaderboards today, and then going to the first tee and I hear what he's doing, and I'm like, well, I have to look now just because I wanted to watch history. Weber and Paul and Jay and I, we were all egging him on and pulling for him. Not often do you shoot 62 and get your butt handed to you.

Q. A 62 to finish this Travelers Championship. Your thoughts?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it was a great day. Any time you can finish off a tournament like that is obviously a big positive, and not necessarily a sigh of relief but just kind of a happy moment I guess you can say because I felt like I played well this whole week and just haven't gotten anything out of it. None of the putts were going in and nothing was really going my way, so today was a little bit of a cap-off for me.

Q. What do you think it was that clicked in, just fate?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't know. I started making putts. I'd been putting really well for a while now and just nothing has been going in. That's a big difference in this game, when you see guys get on hot runs for two, three months, wherever it is, when they're winning tournaments or always in contention, they've got that putter going. It's a tough game, and sometimes you just have to try and stay positive, and I feel like I've done a good job of that, and I feel like today would have never happened a couple years ago.

Q. You shot a 62 and it's overshadowed by a 58. It's incredible, history took place.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Oh, it's awesome. I thought to myself, I missed a really good birdie putt on 12 and I just missed it, and just missed an eagle putt on 13, and I was like, I have five holes left, I'm at 7, I could get four of these last five and somewhat make history, I guess, since Jim shot 58, and then I made bogey and kind of threw that down the drain. That's awesome. We were pulling him on and we were watching the entire day today.

Q. So you were keeping track of what was going on?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely. I wasn't going to look at leaderboards. I told myself just because I feel like when I do I kind of get wrapped up in it, but I was trying to witness history, I guess.

Q. What message would you send him? Are you going to text him?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't have his number, but yeah, that's awesome. Just because I played with him the first two rounds and he really, really clutched up the final five holes to even make the cut. He made about a 30-footer on our 15th hole, about a 12-footer on our 16th hole and got up-and-down for par, made about an eight-footer on our last hole or else today would have never happened.

Q. You said you don't watch the leaderboard maybe, but you paid attention to Furyk and what he did today. Did that calm you down a little bit?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not necessarily because he finished so early. I had the majority of my round to still go. But it didn't -- I know what this course is like. I know what's out there. I've played it so many times that I know you can have a round like that. Obviously you have to play unbelievable to shoot 58 or 62 even, but I understand that you can get going with the clubs you have into greens and go low.

Q. You still could win the tournament.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah. I'm not going to win the tournament, but I could care less. I'll take a 62 and someone could shoot 58 every day of the week, and I'll be pretty pleased.

Q. You putted very well today. Even on 18 you hit a good putt that just missed. When that happens, do you tend to -- is it almost human nature where you think of the ones you didn't get, or can you just say, you know what, I really putted well?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Well, it's golf. You always talk about and think about the ones you left out there. It doesn't matter what you shoot. I guarantee you ask Jim about his round, and at some point in there he's going to say I missed that 12-footer on whatever. That's just golf. I think when we sit back and really look at it, we look at all the good things, but yeah, I really hit some good putts out there that could have gone in that didn't, and I could have been 9-, 10-under through 12 or 13, but I was obviously very pleased with being 7. Yeah, I did hit a lot of good putts, especially that one on 18 that just missed, but I made my fair share today.

Q. When someone posts a 62 or a 58, obviously, do you think it's appreciated more by those who can't come anywhere close to that or you guys who can do it? Who do you think appreciates that type of a score?
JUSTIN THOMAS: That's a good question. I think it depends on the course. A course like this probably the fans, the people out there, but we were talking about it today, you look at something like Ken Duke's 65 on Saturday at THE PLAYERS was just a flat-out joke. That was something that he probably could never do again in his life, and I don't think any of us could. It was so hard, and for him to go out there and shoot 7-under was just something that was -- unless you're a golfer and you're out there playing the golf course, you can't understand.

Q. To see him have to really work to make the cut and to see what he did today, is that fun for you as a golf fan to kind of appreciate and follow as you said you were doing?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It's really cool, it is, because like I said, he barely made the cut, and it speaks to his character and the kind of player he is. He grinded it out, and he very easily could have packed it in. It's not like he's lacking any money or like needs this for that or for points. Obviously he's trying to get into the FedEx Playoffs, which I would say he pretty much locked up now. But there's a reason he is Jim Furyk and why he has so many good tournaments.

Q. How would you say this week went for you overall?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it was a good week. Just I'm trending in the right direction, which is what I wanted to do going into the Playoffs. I've been playing well and putting well for a long time now, just haven't really gotten anything out of it. I've gotten on some bad draws in the majors, and there's nothing you can do about that. Over the course of the career or over the course of the year even it usually equals out, and I've been telling myself to stay positive, stay patient, and I feel like that kind of showed today.

Q. To shoot a 62, obviously you did putt well, but to shoot a score that low, is it really because you did pretty much everything really well?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not necessarily. I just putted well. Honestly I didn't hit it near as well today as I did the first three days, especially the first day. I didn't drive it as well. I just kind of got it on the green. I hit some really good shots on the par-3s. I mean, don't get me wrong, I obviously hit some good shots, but today was because of the putter.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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