In case you forgot, as we watched shot-by-shot coverage of Tiger Woods’ final round, Justin Thomas was also playing in the Honda Classic, and like Tiger, he looked dialled in. That was until the par-3 fifth hole at PGA National, where the reigning US PGA champion nearly ran into disaster.
After playing the first four holes in one-under, Thomas stepped to the 163-metre par-3 with a 9-iron in hand, and came up a bit short, but caught the break of the year when his ball hit the rock wall just in front of the green. Check it out:
ARE YOU KIDDING?! 🎢
From disastrous to incredible for @JustinThomas34!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/AYLPCbXuFJ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 25, 2018
An inch or so shorter and this ball might just bounce back into the water hazard. Instead, it nearly found the bottom of the cup for an ace. That makes two times this month that Thomas has scared the hole on a par-3, but, unfortunately, there was no “talk dirty to me” this time, probably because he mis-hit it. It wouldn’t have been his first ace on tour though, as he made one last March at the WGC-Mexico Championship from 212 metres.
Thomas wound up missing the putt, which was from 13 feet after the ball rolled well past the hole. But it didn’t matter. He went on to win the tournament in a playoff. Talk about a lucky break!
