“At least I got one check mark” - Justin Thomas shares glimpse of his 2022-23 goals and comments on his hits and misses
The 2022-23 season was the least favorable of Justin Thomas' PGA Tour career so far. The two-time Major champion was far from his best but decided to look on the bright side on social media.
Justin Thomas shared a summary of his 2022-23 season in a post on Instagram on Tuesday, December 19. In it, Thomas replayed his list of pre-season goals and ticked off which ones he achieved and which ones he didn't.
"Well… at least I got one check mark! 😂 I’ve always been a goal setter, but also have enjoyed being candid about sharing them at seasons end. In 23’ I went with less stat oriented goals, more accomplishment based, with the thought of the “practicing” I did would accomplish the stats I wanted which would produce these hopeful outcomes," Thomas wrote.
The lack of the success Justin Thomas was hoping for is evident when you see that he only marked as "achieved" one of his nine goals (making the team to the Ryder Cup). Even this was not without controversy, having obtained a spot on the US team via captain's pick by Zach Johnson.
Justin Thomas accompanied his post with a text in which he reflected on the recently concluded season. He added:
"Everybody is different in their goal setting. I’ve always been one to set the bar high to try and work toward them and achieve them. While 2023 was my least successful year on @pgatour, it provided my best opportunity for learning experiences and areas to grow. I’m thankful to have an amazing team around me who works their tails off to continue to work hard to win tournaments and improve. We saw LOTS of positives and great things these last few months, and am excited for a few weeks off with family and friends to relax. 2024 will be season 10 (wtf!?!?!?) for me on Tour, and I’m still looking to just get 1% better each day… 🙌🏽"
A look at Justin Thomas' list of goals for the 2022-23 season
Judging by his list of goals, Justin Thomas was expecting big things from the 2022-23 season. Unfortunately for him, he was not able to fulfill it, although it was not without positives.
Thomas expected to qualify for the TOUR Championship, something he was far from achieving since he could not even enter the first playoff of the FedEx Cup. However, Thomas came very close to achieving it, as he finished the season ranked 71 (the Top 70 participated in the first FedEx Cup playoff).
Thomas also hoped to make the Ryder Cup team and win the event. Thomas did make the team, although not on his merit, but was chosen by the captain. As for winning, Team Europe prevented it spectacularly.
Another goal for Thomas was to win three tournaments, one of them a Major. During the 2022-23 season, he was unable to win a tournament, his best result being fourth place in the WM Phoenix Open. As for Majors, Thomas was cut three times (The Masters, The U.S. Open, and The Open Championship) and finished T65 at the PGA Championship.
Thomas' two other goals were to finish in the Top 10 in more than half of the PGA Tour tournaments and to not suffer cuts. The season unfolded very differently, as Thomas missed the cut six times in 21 tournaments, with only four top 10s.
Thomas also failed to achieve the lowest scoring average, averaging 70.52. He was also aiming for a return to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking (which he achieved in 2018), but his performance took him in the opposite direction. Thomas started the season ranked 7th and finished 26th in the OWGR.