THE NORTHERN TRUST

August 20, 2021

Justin Thomas

Liberty National Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. The front to the back, did something flip for you?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Nothing really changed. I started hitting better shots. I think, I don't know, I had no clubface control. I started missing it left, missing it right, I missed more left than rights. I didn't feel like I was going to hit bad shots, but every time I looked up, the ball wasn't where I wanted it to be. Had a lot of curve on some shots, and it was frustrating for I felt as good as I felt over it and good as I hit yesterday, I couldn't execute.

As terrible as I drove it today, to step up on 5 and hit that 3-wood like I did probably gave me confidence, and then making birdie; and I knew I had scoring chances coming in with 6 and 8. Obviously making eagle on 8 and birdieing 7 was a steal, but it was nice to cap off a good day.

Q. Do you take any pride in managing your swing?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I take a lot of pride, finishing 5-under my last five, to shoot over par on this golf course isn't very good for how soft it is right now. I mean, I feel like as bad as I played on the front, I still should be able to get it around at par or better, at least if I'm managing my emotions and managing my game well.

Yeah, I've always been pretty good at changing things on the fly or at least making something work, and I really struggled with that today, trying to figure out getting something to work, but then finally did those last five or six holes.

Q. And yardage and the club on the eagle, the second shot?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I had 286, I think, hole. I hit 5-wood. We didn't think it had any chance of getting it up there. The play was just to try to hit it in that right bunker because I didn't really have a club for the shot, to be honest. 3-wood is going to be too much, and 5-wood, soft as the greens are, was not going to be able to skip up there. And I absolutely crushed it, and it landed perfectly far enough on the downslope to the edge of the green to where it rolled out there and made the putt, so was pretty fortunate.

Q. When you putted --

JUSTIN THOMAS: We were just joking. Making eagle and then after I made my putt, we looked at each other and said, "Good halve." He definitely had some fun the last two holes hitting driver.

Q. What's on the necklace?

JUSTIN THOMAS: My credential. I don't know. Just what we get every week.

Q. You've played this event a few times, whether it's New York or Boston, it's obviously going away next year. What's your best memory of this event and how would you compare the New York fans to the Boston fans?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Boy, I can't really win answering that question, can I. They are all passionate, which is what I love. Obviously they are both probably a little harsher than others, but they are passionate, and they like cheering for you. They love sports, and not just golf; anything. You get the hockey games, baseball games, football games.

The Northeast fans, they are passionate and they are into it, and I think that's great. You get some loud roars out there on the golf course, and you know, they want to see some excitement. They want to see some fireworks. And specifically the Presidents Cup here was great, I was able to feed off that energy, and since, you know, we were on our home land in the US, we had a lot of support that week and it was a lot of fun.