PNC CHAMPIONSHIP

December 18, 2021

Justin Thomas

The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club

Press Conference

JUSTIN THOMAS: Crazy cool to be out on the course with Tiger, Charlie, my dad. Definitely calling it a success both my dad and Tiger made it 18 holes, so that's good.

Q. How is Mike?

JUSTIN THOMAS: He's fine. I mean, I'll never know how he is because he won't -- he says fine to everything, but I think how he looked speaks for itself, but I mean, his back is just hurting him and you know, every day is different. So hopefully tomorrow will be good or better.

Q. You were adamant early that Tiger wasn't going to out-drive you at all today. What did you think?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I wasn't adamant. I was just hoping that he wouldn't. He hit it past me on 11. I hit it pretty good and as soon as both of us, as soon as this ball took that big bounce we looked at each other and I was like, oh, if it's going to happen, it's going to be this one because I think it just launched and yeah, that was a shot to the ego.

Q. Were any words exchanged when you got to your balls?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I don't think he needed to. Just, yeah, he really didn't need to say anything. I was just so embarrassed that he hit it past me that that was enough.

Q. He talked about game shape. What did you see and how far away are we?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I think there's a big difference -- in terms of hitting shots and all that stuff, he's not that far away. But in terms of being able to compete and walk 72 holes multiple weeks in a row, yeah, that's a different story and he's the only one that can answer that.

But man, I was so impressed by the speed that he had and the shots he was hitting. At least from my perspective, it looked like a lot of the moves and everything were there. It just was if anything, a little short, which is probably -- naturally you would think he's not going to hit it as far but man, like that 4-iron he hit into three today that was just ridiculous. I looked at him and as soon as he sat in the cart, he just kind of looked at me and smiles and I knew exactly that that's the kind of shots that he hits when he's healthy.

Q. When Tiger talks about endurance, what does that mean to you? Walking? Practicing? What sense do you have of that?

JUSTIN THOMAS: He hasn't necessarily talked to me specifically about it but just in my opinion, it would be yeah, I mean, just body condition, it's like very similar to when I was coming back from my wrist, I could have played one day a couple years ago but I couldn't play 72 holes or two weeks in a row or four or five weeks and that's a big difference. When you're getting into something that involves legs or everything like that, you have to think of walking and the terrain that you're talking and whatnot. So again, there's two very different things of game ready and play ready, I would say.

Q. You guys are talking about speed out there. Are you giving him some speed tips or explaining what you've been working on?

JUSTIN THOMAS: He was asking because it's a shot that I've kind of added to get a little bit further and he was just curious because of how he moves now, it's just harder for him, if he goes that way, he's just going to keep going, and so he was asking how I would do it and then we were talking about Kyle Berkshire a little bit because he does it really well and we watch videos of him and how he moves and it's just unbelievably impressive. That's all it was.

Q. Are you adding speed or adding shots?

JUSTIN THOMAS: No. That's something I've always at least like to think that I have but I definitely have one that I can hit another 15 or so in the air if I need to, which is what I did a couple times out there. It's not like, no, I'm not on this like Bryson pursuit of speed or anything like that.