Justin Thomas returns to form after being talked into using old putter by teenager

Morikawa eager to savour taste of success after debut Open triumph

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After his recent struggles on the greens Justin Thomas’ putting form looked to have made a return at yesterday’s opening round of the Northern Trust thanks to having his old putter back in the bag.

After the American lost a huge 8.4 strokes with his former Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 putter at this year’s Memorial Tournament in June, Thomas – who is known for his strong putting – decided it was time for a change on the green.

As a result, the World No. 5 then switched his putter for a different Scotty Cameron model (the Phantom X) ahead of this year’s US Open, and went on to put in his best putting performance in seven months, gaining 4.8 strokes.

However, the American’s putting resurgence was short lived as Thomas once again hit an uncharacteristic struggle on the greens across the Scottish Open, Open Championship and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where he ranked 61st out of 65 players in putting stats.

Despite this, and sitting 126th on the PGA Tour in the putting rankings the world No. 5 was still set on using his new ‘knuckle neck’ putter until being talked into a revert back to his old model by a 15-year-old golfer.

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Ahead of this week’s FedEx Cup play-off event in New Jersey Thomas spoke about his return back to his original Phantom X 5.5 and how it came about. 

He commented: “I had my AJGA event last week in Louisville, went right from Memphis. Went out and kind of saw some of the kids playing their practice rounds, and Tuesday was the Junior Am. 

“But my dad had a couple students, and I went out to go … there’s a girl Abigail that he teaches that I went out to go see because I played a couple rounds with her. She’s a really good player, and she was playing with, I think, another two girls, a girl that my dad teaches and then a boy.”

Little did Thomas know that this boy would be the key factor in an important equipment change for the three-week play-off swing.

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He added: “He was using the putter, pretty much my putter that Scotty Cameron, the line that we kind of came out with, and he was like, ‘You know, when are you going to use it again? Are you still using the long neck?’ I was like, ‘yeah, I am’ and I was kind of explaining it, and he’s just like, ‘Well, when are you going to start using it again?’ And I found myself defending myself to this 15-year-old.

“I was like, ‘Why am I not using this thing?’ I’ve had a lot of success. It’s not like I’m making a lot of putts with what I have. If you’re putting well, any of us can go out and putt with anything. I don’t know, it kind of hit me. I’m like, the kid’s got a point.”

Subsequently it seems the 14-time PGA Tour winner has the junior golf to thank, as an inspired putting display from the American saw him card a superb eight-under-par 63 to put him a tie for the lead alongside world No. 1 Jon Rahm after day one at Liberty National.

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