WORKDAY CHARITY OPEN

July 12, 2020

Justin Thomas

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Justin Thomas. I know a disappointing finish for you. If we can just get some comments about the playoff and just the range of emotions throughout the day.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it was quite the bizarre day. It would have been a fun day to have some fans just in terms of the ups and downs and the shot making. A lot of fun, great shots, but yeah, I mean, I got off to a bad start and I really, really fought hard and grinded hard and hit a lot of great shots there in the middle and near the end of the round. Just it's completely unacceptable to give up a three-shot lead with three to go. I'm upset, I'm disappointed in myself, but at the end of the day it's over with now, and I just need to take some time this afternoon and tonight to build on it and figure out what I can do better going into next week.

Q. Just talk about the 50-foot putt. What did you see on that putt and were you surprised to see it go in?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Well, you're never expecting to make a 50-footer, but I read it well. It's a pretty -- it's a simple read in terms of where it's going. It's just the hardest part is getting the speed I felt like. It's very fast, and it breaks hard to the right. It's kind of one of those once it starts going down the hill, you have an idea if it looks good or not, and it did. But that speed on that putt was just perfect. I tried to -- obviously it was exciting when I made it, but I knew that Collin had a good look and a pretty straight putt going down that hill that he kind of saw from mine, and he's obviously a great putter. Tried not to get too wrapped up in it and I didn't, because he cashed it right on top of me.

Q. You had not bogeyed a hole until today. You said it wasn't that big a deal, but to have back-to-back ones, how did you bounce back from that early in the round?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, well, there were two bad bogeys. They're two chances that any round of golf I'm looking to make birdies there. I felt like I gave up three shots just on those two holes, but I knew that it was so early, and luckily I had a lead, that I didn't put myself too far back. I was playing some great golf, I just had to put it behind me. I mean, they were terrible, terrible wedge shots, but because of how they came in, they kind of went on to the downslope of the bunker, and I just didn't have much anyway. I felt like where I hit them, I wasn't going to make any better than bogey anyway.

Q. I know you're disappointed, but when you look back at the day and how many lead changes and how many swings there were, can you remember any round that you've been involved with that had that much emotion to it? I can imagine what having fans would have been like.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, the only thing, although it ended up not being very close on the last hole or two, the PGA at Bellerive was pretty crazy. There's a lot of guys that had a chance, myself included, and it felt like there was a lot of things that could happen, a lot of guys that could win through nine holes. Today wasn't as much, just kind of a battle between myself, Viktor and Collin and just kind of Collin and I the back nine or whatever it was. But yeah, I'm sure it was some great TV to watch.

Q. Just wondering what the read was, the putt on the first playoff hole. That was the longest putt you've made this season. I was just wondering your thought process there.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I mean, there wasn't really a specific read. I probably played it 30 feet out, something like that. It just was more about feeling and getting engaged for the speed because that's a putt that in all reality I'm just trying to get it around the hole and hope Collin misses and then try to salvage a par to go on to the next hole. Somehow the hole got in the way.

Q. The difference in the putts you had on 18 in regulation and the second time around, were they at all similar? Were you fooled on either one of them?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, they were very similar. I felt that I hit really good putts on both. They both had the speed that I wanted. They looked really good halfway when I looked up, but the one in regulation was a little farther left, it was a little bit straighter, but I probably played that one a half a ball to a ball outside the left, and then the second playoff hole I probably played closer to a cup. Yeah, I mean, that's just a bummer because I had such a good read from regulation, and really felt like I had a good vision, and I was going to make that putt. Yeah, just obviously did not.

Q. You're no stranger to Playoffs or moments like this, but is it at all hard to gather yourself when you make a 50-footer, you wait and then you watch the other guy put in a 25-footer just to keep your biorhythms, not to quote Bryson, but whatever, going to the next hole?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it is, but at the same time I felt like I did a really good job -- I never assumed it was over. Percentages would say that it heavily is close to being that way, but I just knew -- if it would have been a putt that he hadn't seen or that he hadn't had, not that he wouldn't have made it, but I know he knows that putt, I know he saw my putt in regulation. I even heard him reference it when he was reading it, that he was going to have a good read on it, and I was like, just don't get ahead of yourself. It obviously got me in that playoff. I should have never been there in the first place, so I just tried to keep my head down and think he's going to make it but hoping he's not, selfishly, but he did.

Q. How long a time do you need to get over something like this?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I have no idea. I hope about three or four days because I've got to start another tournament on Thursday. I mean, I'm playing great. I have a great chance to win another golf tournament next week at a course that I obviously enjoy and I'm playing well. I just can't beat myself up, although it's going to be pretty hard not to, at least the rest of this afternoon. But there's a whole lot of nothing I can do about it right now. I just need to execute better when I get in that situation in the future.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. Best of luck next week.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports