"Smiley was texting me live updates"- How Justin Thomas found out he made the Tour Championship
After finishing T39 at the BMW Championship, Justin Thomas' place in the Tour Championship was not guaranteed. Before his place could be ensured, there were other golfers who had to finish playing. During a recent interaction after round 1 at the Tour Championship, Thomas revealed he did not wait for other golfers.
The PGA Tour golfer mentioned he and his family took off to go back home, but his mind was constantly on whether he qualified for the Tour Championship or not. When Thomas was speaking about this story, he was asked if he was on a plane when he found out that he had made the Tour Championship.
Justin Thomas answered:
"Yeah, Smiley was calling the past couple groups, and I hope I don't get him in trouble, he was texting me live updates because wifi wasn't great. He was sending me pictures of lies, telling me what was going on. I have Smiley to thank a lot for the updates."
In 2024, Justin Thomas has not won an event on the PGA Tour despite coming close on many occasions. This year, the 31-year-old American has registered five top-10 finishes and found himself in 30th position on the FedEx Cup standings. This was enough to ensure his place in the ongoing Tour Championship.
How did Justin Thomas perform in round 1 of the 2024 Tour Championship?
In round 1 of the Tour Championship at the East Lake Golf Club, Justin Thomas scored 66 (-5). This score helped Thomas tie for 14th place along with the likes of Aaron Rai, Matthieu Pavon, Shane Lowry, Sungjae Im, and Ludvig Aberg.
Here is a detailed look at the leaderboard after the play on Thursday came to an end:
- 1 Scottie Scheffler -16
- T2 Collin Morikawa -9
- T2 Xander Schauffele -9
- T4 Adam Scott -8
- T4 Sam Burns -8
- T4 Wyndham Clark -8
- T4 Keegan Bradley -8
- T4 Hideki Matsuyama -8
- 9 Sahith Theegala -7
- T10 Taylor Pendrith -6
- T10 Russell Henley -6
- T10 Patrick Cantlay -6
- T10 Rory McIlroy -6
- T14 Justin Thomas -5
- T14 Aaron Rai -5
- T14 Matthieu Pavon -5
- T14 Shane Lowry -5
- T14 Sungjae Im -5
- T14 Ludvig Åberg -5
- T20 Sepp Straka -4
- T20 Robert MacIntyre -4
- T20 Viktor Hovland -4
- T20 Byeong Hun An -4
- T20 Tony Finau -4
- 25 Akshay Bhatia -3
- T26 Tom Hoge -2
- T26 Tommy Fleetwood -2
- 28 Chris Kirk -1
- 29 Christiaan Bezuidenhout E
- 30 Billy Horschel +1
In his outing at the East Lake Golf Club on Thursday, Thomas managed to hit seven birdies in total. He hit three of these on the front nine, and the remaining four birdies were on the back nine. In round 2 of the Tour Championship, Justin Thomas will be paired with Rory McIlroy and the duo will tee off at 12:49 PM (ET).