"He's so back!!", "the Keegan effect"- Fans react as Justin Thomas finds his form during the Scottish Open
Justin Thomas leads the Genesis Scottish Open at 8 under after the first 18 holes at the Scottish Open. This performance has been a surprise for many, as his results have not been the best in recent times.
Fans have reacted to Thomas' first round at The Renaissance Club, congratulating him and showing their support. The 31-year-old has 15 PGA Tour victories in his career so far, including two majors.
One user of the social networking site X (formerly Twitter) said excitedly:
"He’s so back!!"
Another fan wrote:
"The Keegan effect"
Let's take a look at some other reactions:
"Good to see him playing well," one fan posted.
"Take it all JT!" another user said.
"Would love to see JT get back on track," a fan wrote.
According to Golf Digest, Thomas has not led a PGA Tour event in 781 days. This timeline goes back to the 2022 PGA Championship, his most recent win at the highest level.
After finishing his round, Thomas said (via TenGolf):
"It's always good to get off to a good start and even better to get off to a great one. I felt like I was in great control of everything, just when I missed it, I missed it in the right spots," he said.
"I hit a lot of really quality shots and capitalized on those four five six footers to make something of them. I stole a couple with some long or mid-range putt, so, you know like any golfer I would have loved to finish those last five holes a little bit better but I played really really solid today." [o:05 - 0:35]
How was Justin Thomas' first round at the Genesis Scottish Open?
The first round of the Genesis Scottish Open was the 54th round with 8 or more birdies in Justin Thomas' career. He is the PGA Tour leader in that stat and is ahead of the runner-up (Jordan Spieth) by 14 rounds.
Thomas began his performance with a birdie on the first hole, then parred holes 2 through 4. He then birdied four in a row and parred the ninth to finish the front nine at 5-under.e
The two-time major champion continued his solid performance in the first part of the back nine, with three birdies in the first four holes. At that point, Thomas was one stroke off the course record of 9 under with five holes to play.
However, Thomas could only make par on his final five holes to finish at 8 under. It is fair to say that the par he made on the 17th had a lot of merit, as he sent his tee shot past the green, forcing him to wedge for the green and then make a 10-foot, 7-inch putt.
This is the third edition of the Genesis Scottish Open for Thomas. He was cut in 2022 and finished T60 in 2023.