He is certainly the man of the moment. Just four days after winning his third US PGA Tour title, the SBS Tournament of Champions, Justin Thomas enjoyed more success in Hawaii, becoming the youngest player (23) in history to shoot a 59 on the Tour.
His epic opening round in the Sony Open included eight birdies and was bookended by two eagles – on the 10th (his first hole) and ninth (last). He was just the second player after Jim Furyk (who has shot both a 59 and 58 on the Tour) to achieve record a sub-60 round with a bogey on his card. The other five players in the 59 Club are Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos and Stuart Appleby. Geiberger, Duval and Appleby all went on to win the tournament.
“It means a lot. Any time you're in history in any sport or whatever you're doing, it's a good thing,” Thomas said after drilling a three-metre eagle on the ninth hole at Waialae Country Club. “I wasn't thinking a lot. I was just really more focused on trying to make the putt. Obviously I knew what it meant if I made it, and that was the first time I had a putt at 59.
“I was like, well, who knows when this is going to happen again, I may as well try and knock it in. I hit a great putt.”
The PGA Tour reported, “Starting on the 10th hole Thomas was given an early indication of what might be on the cards when he chipped in for eagle from just off the green. But then he was unable to get up and down from the sand on the 11th, recording his only blemish of the day. Birdies on the 13th and 14th followed before he kicked things up a gear to record five straight birdies around the turn from the 16th through to the second. Another birdie on the fourth sent Thomas to nine-under and left him with the prospect of playing the last five holes in two-under to make his mark in history.
“It seemed a foregone conclusion given how Thomas was flushing the ball but the golf gods refused to make it easy. At the fifth Thomas missed a three-metre birdie putt. At the sixth he could not convert from five metres. When it came to the par-three 7th Thomas left himself plenty of meat on the bone at 10 metres but hit a lovely putt down the slope, only to see it somehow trickle to the right at the very last moment to sit on the lip. Playing partner and good friend Jordan Spieth already had the putter raised before dropping to his knees in disbelief.”
Spieth took up the story… “His two best putts missed,” Spieth said referencing the fifth and seventh holes. “I wish there was a camera with my view on the putt that he hit on number seven. It was ridiculous. I've never seen a putt that I thought was so sure that it was going in with just drip speed, somehow missed the cup. He was a bit unlucky there and I'm glad that it didn't matter and he got it back.”
A par save on the eighth after his drive found tree trouble and his approach found the sand left Thomas with an eagle or bust mentality on the ninth, but things looked a little grim when his tee shot found a fairway bunker.
“We all know it's the magical number in golf. I knew I had a great chance in Malaysia last year, and I was really honestly pretty bummed when that didn't happen and I was so bummed when that tee shot went in the bunker,” Thomas said. “Thought I hit a perfect drive. I was going to carry the bunker at the downslope and have about an eight-iron in, and I saw some sand flying and I was ready to punch something. I was pretty upset about that, because I felt like all chances right there were gone; barring holing a wedge or something like that.”
However, after watching his other playing partner, Daniel Berger, find the green from the same trap Thomas knew it was possible – and a five-iron from 200 metres found the mark. “I was calm, I wasn't too nervous over the putt,” Thomas recalled.
When he let it roll and it dropped, Spieth and Berger showed more emotion then the man himself. “I think I got more excited from seeing them get excited than I did my putt going in,” he laughed. “I thought about it going up to the green. If I make it, what am I going to do? It's not like winning a tournament. It's like, hey, unbelievable round, you have three days left to try to play well. So I didn't really know how to react. I never had a putt on the last hole on a Thursday mean that much.
“We'll go have a good afternoon, shake it off, and just kind of chill, go to North Shore and I think that will get my mind off it a little bit,” Thomas said. “Just get a good night's sleep and get out and try to hit some more fairways and greens. It's a course where no lead or no margin is really safe. People are going to be – just like it was for us this morning – firing at it tomorrow morning. So I need to get ready to get my mind ready and my game, try to keep it sharp to try to post another good one tomorrow.”
