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SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 12, 2017

Justin Thomas

Honolulu, Hawaii

Q. An eagle to shoot 59. Tell me what you were thinking over the putt on what was your 18th hole and what was your emotion when it went in?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I wasn't thinking a lot. I was just really more focused on trying to make the putt. Obviously I knew what it meant if I made it, and that was the first time I had a putt at 359. I was like, well, who knows when this is going to happen again, I may as well try and knock it in. I hit a great putt. Honestly the emotions were fine, until honestly Jordan and berg were more excited than I was, and that was really cool to me, to do that with two of your friends and have them go as crazy as they did was really cool.

Q. What does it mean to be in the group of players in the sub-60 number?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It means a lot. Any time you're in history in any sport or whatever you're doing, it's a good thing. We all know it's the magical number in golf. I knew I had a great chance in Malaysia last year, and I was really honestly pretty bummed when that didn't happen and I was so bummed when that tee shot went in the bunker. I thought it was going to be good. I got up there and had a perfect lie, and I'm like, you know what am I going to do, lay up? And if it comes off, great, and if not, whatever. It was really cool.

Q. 9-under through your first 13 holes. At what point did that sub-60 number enter your brain and did it alter anything emotionally or mentally?
JUSTIN THOMAS: It honestly entered my brain 18 fairway when I had 8-iron in. I was like, you know, you think I'm going to make birdie here, and I turned at 6, and as well as I was driving it, I can go shoot six or seven on this side, and really, really post history. The two best putts I probably hit today honestly didn't even go in on 5 and 7. We were talking about that in there. It's crazy how they didn't go in. But just enough went in, so that's all that matters.

Q. Finally as you look at your game right now coming off a victory last week and doing what you did on Thursday today, how would you describe where your game is right now?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I would say it's pretty good right now. I feel confident. I just have a good calmness out there, and I've just been very comfortable. But unfortunately I know all rounds aren't going to be like today, so I've just got to enjoy it while I can.

Q. Win last week, 59 today, cloud nine in a way?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it's been a good, whatever, week or so now. It was a fun day out there. It was the most I had ever had it rolling. My birdies were all very easy, and I just had a lot of really good looks and kept leaving it in the right spots, and I was just driving it well. Didn't drive it quite as well on this back nine but I got it done to the magic number, that's so that's all that matters.

Q. You had a sparkle in your eye yesterday. Was the warm up good today? Do you have a feeling?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Not really. My warmups are short, anyway. It's really hard to get any sort of idea what's going to happen. I think when you kind of chip-in -- when I chipped in on 10, my first hole, for eagle, you can't really think of a much better start than that. I really hit a great shot on 11, but went in the bunker and made bogey. Once that happened, you're just kind of like, oh, it's just another day.

But once I turned on the front nine, just everything was coming pretty easy up until then. Just trying to ride the momentum and just keep trying to make birdies.

Q. So you're riding momentum. Do you start thinking about the goal number in the end at any stage?
JUSTIN THOMAS: When I was on 18, I thought about 59. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but I just knew that I was driving it well and if you drive it well out here, you can make a lot of birdies. I just kept telling myself, if I can put the ball in the fairway, I'm going to have scoring clubs. And how I was playing and how I felt with those clubs, I felt pretty confident that I could at least have a chance. And being 9-under through 13, I knew we had some holes coming in here where I could get this really deep.

Like I said, I got it done, me and Jimmy did, so that's all that matters.

Q. You eagle the last. I want to talk about that some, but I think that par 4 save on 8, your 17th, was huge?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Absolutely. Because I knew if a good drive here, I was going to have a mid-iron in if I hit fairway. And yeah, it was a tough read. It's a hard green to read back there because the grain kind of goes different ways on the slope. I called Jimmy in, and more often than not, when you're trying to find something, there's nothing there, and we're like, it's just dead straight. Sometimes those are the hardest putts to hit, especially under pressure. I hit a great putt there and I never would have had a chance if it weren't for that putt.

Q. When did you know, okay, this thing's going down?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Honestly, those putts I hit on 5 and 7, those didn't go in -- I didn't think it was in until it finally dropped. I hit great putts on both those holes and they didn't go in, and I was like, man, you know, maybe this just isn't my day -- or it's not meant to be; it's not going to happen today. But the one that I needed to go in, went in, so I'm happy with it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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