ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

March 3, 2023

Justin Thomas

Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Quick Quotes

Q. Justin, I know that's not the way you want to finish on 17 and 18, but are you going to look at the positives on the first 16 holes or the negatives from the last two holes?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, the positives, yeah, the whole day. I hit some really, really good shots, really good putts. I played a really great round of golf today. I just misjudged the wind there on 17 and obviously hit a bad first putt. It felt like I got pretty unlucky with my tee shot on 18. That ball very easily kicks left with the slope in the fairway. Instead of being in the fairway and thinking birdie, I'm just trying to somehow salvage a par out of the first cut and obviously didn't.

But, no, there's exponentially more positives than negatives today and if anything I'll just try to use it to get me going on the weekend.

Q. Did the second shot on 18 jump a little bit?

JUSTIN THOMAS: It did. It just, like I said, the first cut, it's very jumpy here. It's a long first cut. It's hard to consistently get it to come out the same. I think if I had it over, I would have played it a little differently, maybe try to land it on the front of the green. But everybody knows if you miss that fairway, you got to miss in the left rough, not the right. But it is what it is. Bogey is not going to hurt me at the end of the week.

Q. The tough windy conditions it sets off your creative side, right? Do you feel it's just more focus out there on a tough day like that?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I mean, you can't -- yeah, you just can't take any shots off. I think I need to find away to channel this mindset and focus on every single round I play. I think I'm very close to it, but you can always keep working on it.

Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's a lot of how I like to play golf, a lot of creativity and having fun and hitting shots, hitting clubs from spots that you don't usually hit and working it with winds, against winds and just trying to make it as easy on myself as I can.

Q. Do you have one or two from today that you had to really get creative and pull off a shot?

JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, that shot I hit on 15 was so good. I kind of had that one like 172 to 176 number a handful of times today into the wind. This is a good 15- to 20-yard wind. And it all depends on the flight. I think when you get to a 6- and a 7-iron, it's a big difference of, you know, if you take a little off a 6-iron it just doesn't have much spin and it kind of goes through it. Whereas, a 6-iron might only affect it 7 or 8 yards, but a 7-iron might affect it 18. So you kind of have that balance there. I knew I couldn't get a 7-iron to the hole, so I just tried to hit a little 6 but float it a little bit, just to kind of get a little bit more spin on it and land soft and, yeah, I mean, it was really nice. You hit shots like that every ones an in a while. But that's exactly how I said it to Bones and drew it up and it's even cooler when it all works out like that.

Q. What role does experience play on a day like this where you're able to walk off and really sort through how much good there was as opposed to the finish?

JUSTIN THOMAS: A lot. Yeah, I think I've been in that position many times and I probably will a lot more in my future, to be honest. Yeah, it sucks. There's no other way to say it. To throw away a 7-under, I mean, 17 and 18 are downwind and a 9-iron and a wedge into those two holes. But at the same time, you get out of position out here and it's going to bite you. So I had, yeah, way, way, way more good happen to think too much about those last two holes.