WASTE MANAGEMENT PHOENIX OPEN

February 6, 2021

Justin Thomas

TPC Scottsdale

Quick Quotes

Q. That's more like it. Bogey-free, five for five scrambling, 77 feet of putts made. How would you describe today?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I played well. It was solid. I drove the ball nice. I felt like I left a fair amount of shots out there with my wedge play. I did a lot of what I did there on 18. Hit a decent wedge to 15 feet instead of hitting it instead of ten feet or eight feet like I feel like I should.

No, bogey-free 7-under is what I needed to do today or what I feel like I need to do to put the myself in a good place tomorrow. Hopefully these guys don't make too many more coming in, and I have to go out and shoot another low one tomorrow.

Q. A chance to win and you'll be chasing down your good buddy, Jordan. Talk about that. I know that's an interesting situation because you guys are so close.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, there is a lot of guys. It's not I'm like I'm just chasing him. Xander is up there. There are plenty of other guys tied with me and right behind me. And this is a place you can go shoot 9- or 10-under, and someone at 10- or 11-under could go win this golf tournament.

I just need to go out and try to make as many birdies as I can and hope it's good enough, and assess where I am with a couple holes to go, if I need to change the game plan.

Q. How low will you have to go tomorrow? The conditions will be great, like they've been all week. Maybe 10-under?

JUSTIN THOMAS: If I shoot 10-under tomorrow I feel pretty good about my chances. I don't know. The course is getting a little bit firmer every day. Just depends on how they set the golf course up. Today the pins were very accessible, so you could make some eagles on the par-5s and you could run it up there on 17 and have a chance.

But no, I mean, doesn't matter how easy it is. You still have to hit the shots out here. I don't have a number in mind. Just going to try to make as many birdies as I can.

Q. Just overall thoughts on your day.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Good round. Solid. I drove the ball nicely. I definitely didn't wedge it as well as I -- or close to as well as I would've liked. Just kind of a low stress day. I made some really nice putts, some good kind of key par saving I feel like putts there early in the round.

Yeah, it was just a good day. Hit a lot of really quality iron shots, quality drive, and I just didn't quite wedge it close enough. I hit way too many wedge to 15, 20 feet when I need to be hitting those things inside of 8, 10 feet and make more birdies.

But there are a lot of positives today, and I feel like I'm getting close to shooting a really good one. Just hope it's tomorrow.

Q. JT, you've had two consecutive thirds here and I think you're in third right now. What do you think it'll take tomorrow? Just absolutely a flurry of birdies and no mistakes?

JUSTIN THOMAS: No. Doesn't need to be a perfect round. At the worst I'll be, what, four or five back going into tomorrow, potentially two or three. I know I'm going to have to play really well. There is a lot of great players, not just Jordan and Xander. Plenty of guys I am tied with or who are right behind me.

I just need to get in my own little world and really just shoot as low as I can. Funny thing about this place is if you don't play well you struggle. It's hard to get it going. But if I play well, you really can -- I mean, you can birdie every single hole.

So I am really just taking it one shot, one hole at a time and trying to play as well as I can.

Q. You have a little bit of a class of 2011 thing going on on the leaderboard right now with you and Xander and Jordan. It is a ten-year anniversary or reunion.

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I didn't think about that.

Q. Do you ever think about that class of 2011 stuff anymore?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I think we're old enough now where there is other waves of young guys coming through. No, it's cool. We've obviously had a lot of success and played great, but I think '17 was probably the peak of our win category at least.

Hopefully have another great year this year and 2011 can stand on top again.

Q. Is it somewhat of an advantage tomorrow that it hasn't been long at all since you've won, whereas some of the other guys it's been a while?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yes and no. I mean, they could argue that they're hungrier. I know I would trade with both of the guys ahead of me in positions in terms of how they might feel versus where they stand in the tournament.

You can say what you want about what you've done or not, but the fact of starting 2 or 4 or 5 shots ahead of somebody is still an advantage. They've won. They know how to win. I've said that I know Jordan will get it back at some point, and he's clearly playing really well through three rounds today.

Again, I'm not worried about anybody else but me tomorrow.

Q. What do you talk about tonight at dinner?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Probably the Super Bowl.

Q. Anything but golf?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it's not going to be forced. We're very close, and we understand that over the course of a long career we're going to have a lot of duels and battles. I went through this with Rickie a couple years ago. We stayed in the same house and were the final group together.

I won't be in the final group tomorrow, but we're both trying to get it done.

No, it's all in good fun.