MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 10, 2022

Justin Thomas

Quick Quotes

Q. Justin, how would you assess your week overall?

JUSTIN THOMAS: It was a grind. It was a fight. To put myself in the third to last group after 76 in the first round, it was nothing to hang my head about. I obviously would love that round over, would love some stretches here and there over, but no, I fought hard.

I just didn't -- wasn't sharp enough today. Had a lot of inconsistency, but yeah, another year down in Augusta.

Q. Right now it's hard to maybe think about it. Are there any positives you can take away from the week?

JUSTIN THOMAS: A lot of positives. I would say more positives than negatives. I putted the ball great. This week I may have necessarily not holed a lot, but I definitely holed a lot outside of 10 feet, which is something we've been working on really hard. I hit a lot of great shots and had -- made a lot of momentum kind of saving things and then felt like, like I said, after shooting 76 the first day and being in damn near last, to be in the third to last group on Sunday is as great -- good stuff.

Q. What do you make of Scottie Scheffler? He has been 4 of 6, No. 1 in the world and about to win the Masters. Is this an incredible hot streak, or are we seeing something a little bit different?

JUSTIN THOMAS: It's obviously a hot streak. It doesn't matter who it is. Every -- not everybody, but a handful of guys go through it. You get on those hot streaks, and you just got to ride them out because they, unfortunately, don't last forever. But he is doing it in the biggest tournaments. It's not like he is going and winning small events or Bahamas where it's 20 people. He is winning WGCs. He is winning a major now.

It's really, really impressive to see someone that young handle a moment this big so easily. I think the Ryder Cup was huge for him.

Q. You're a major champion. Can you speak to winning your first major and the feelings that come with it?

JUSTIN THOMAS: His world is changing. The Masters is different than the PGA Championship. They're both great, and they both change your life, but nothing changes your life like a Masters, I'm sure, so he is never going to be able to do the same stuff again, in a good light and good reasoning.

But, yeah, it's deserving. He has earned everything he has done the last couple of months.

Q. You mentioned the Ryder Cup. What did you personally see out of him at the Ryder Cup that would foreshadow this?

JUSTIN THOMAS: He had been in the moment a lot, and he hadn't successfully won yet, and I think -- I'm sure he would be the first to tell you, he had some learning experiences. He probably didn't handle things exactly how he wanted to or some things here and there.

That week playing under the biggest pressure -- I mean, the highest pressure I've played under, and then us winning as a team, him playing as well as he did, making those big putts when he needed to was a huge, huge -- I can't speak for him, but I would assume was a huge -- just a big wave of confidence for him that he was able to build on.

Q. You've been on incredible hot streaks before as well. How do they end? Is it like the change in the weather?

JUSTIN THOMAS: It's just golf, man. It's just golf. You have stuff when you get on runs, balls that just -- that could just as easily bounce in a bunker or bounce left. They bounce right and they go next to the hole. It happens. It's not -- it's nothing on the person. It's nothing on the player, but every golfer will tell you, when you are on those bad runs, all those 50-50 balls go the wrong way. When are you on the hot streaks, you get those good bounces. Those putts lip in. You just -- things happen.

Like I said, you just ride it out when you got it.

Q. Last thing from me. Everyone wants to sort of anoint the next Tiger. It was Morikawa when he won, and now maybe people will do it with Scottie. Will we see that again, someone who is No. 1 in the world for 600 weeks, or whatever he was, or is that era just totally different?

JUSTIN THOMAS: I just don't think it matters. I think all of us just need to appreciate greatness, and you need to appreciate the unbelievable golf Scottie is playing. It's not deserving to -- same with Collin. I wasn't in that -- really close to in the comparison type of thing, but there's no need to be compared because what they're doing is unbelievable, and it's really, really special.

There's no reason to bat on it or make it feel any less than it is because you're comparing it to the greatest person to ever play the sport. Yeah, if in ten years Scottie has all of a sudden won 50 times, then, yeah, we can compare it, but this is only going to be his fourth win and Tiger has won 80-something, so just let him enjoy it because it's deserved.