“I feel like you’re not understanding" - Justin Thomas unhappy as PGA Tour rules official denies his relief at the Wyndham Championship
Justin Thomas sought relief during the third round of the Wyndham Championship on Saturday. He fanned a tee shot on the 4 par ninth hole at Sedgefield Country Club after striking a ball from 413 yards. His ball fell under a tree, in front of a scoreboard.
The American golfer gave it a shot and wisely requested relief under the regulations for temporary immovable impediments. He called a PGA Tour official and spoke with him for more than three minutes. But he was denied relief since the scoreboard was not in his intended line of play.
Justin Thomas was unhappy with the decision as he tried his best to convince the officials.
He told the referee as per the USA Today Sports:
“I feel like you’re not understanding what I’m saying. I’ve had it multiple times where a grandstand is in my way and don’t get relief.”
Tour official, Pete Lis replied:
“It's not on your line of play right now. You wouldn’t because you can’t get the ball to finish on the line with hole.”
Thomas accepted the decision and finished the third round with a bogey on the ninth hole.
Justin told the media about the incident:
“You get rulings sometimes where you almost feel bad that it’s happening, and I truly felt like that was going to be one of those scenarios. It’s just weird. It was between me and the hole, and I just had situations before where stuff like that’s happened. It’s not necessarily in your way, but because it’s between you, you get relief.
"It was just because the tree was there. It was one of those things like you kind of have your tail tucked between your legs asking for relief because it would only happen in a situation like this. But at the same time, I’m always going to ask because you never know, I could have gotten a drop and would have been able to hit on the green. So worth a shot."
Following the third round of the 2023 Wyndham Championship, Justin Thomas finished in the T11 position in a five-way tie with Nick Hardy, Kyle Westmoreland, Andrew Novak, and Thomas Detry.
Justin Thomas' performance at the 2023 Wyndham Championship
Thomas entered the 2023 Wyndham Championship with the hope to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He started his game on Thursday with a birdie on the first hole of the opening round. However, he soon carded a bogey on the second.
The former PGA Championship winner played an even round of two birdies and two bogeys on Thursday to score 70.
He made four birdies on the front nine of the second round along with two bogeys and made three birdies on the back nine to score 65. He played the third round of 66 after carding five birdies and one bogey on the ninth hole.
Justin Thomas will resume his game on Sunday at 12:50 pm ET with Nick Hardy.