Through 36 holes at TPC Sawgrass, Justin Thomas surprised many by playing himself into contention in just his second event back from back surgery. It took just one hole on Saturday, however, to back way off the front page of the Players leaderboard.
Thomas, who returned to the PGA Tour last week with a pair of 79s at Bay Hill, entered this weekend at eight under par. He was still at that number and just three shots off the lead when he arrived at the sixth hole. Then, disaster struck.
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The par 4 is not known as one of the Stadium Course’s most difficult holes, but it has it’s most controversial tree: a hanging oak that hangs over the tee box. And one that was just replanted ahead of the 2025 tournament after the original came down in a 2014 storm. After what happened during the third round, we’re guessing Thomas wished it had never come back.
The 16-time PGA Tour winner yanked his drive left and into a penalty area. Then after a drop, he couldn’t get his ball back in the fairway. Same with his fourth shot. Eventually, JT had to sneak a four-footer in the side of the cup to save a triple bogey that knocked him out of contention. Here’s his tee shot that led to the seven:
And here’s how the entire hole played out on TourCast:
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Minutes later, NBC’s Kevin Kisner, a runner-up at the 2015 Players, was asked about the tree.
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“You should be able to keep it under with just about any club, but it’s still always in the back of your mind,” Kevin Kisner said with a chuckle. “And it’s not a long hole. It’d be something different if it was a 500-yard par 4, it’d be way more difficult. But it’s not a long hole, they give you plenty of opions off the tee and give you a lot of room to hit a shot underneath it.”
During a practice round earlier in the week, Ben Griffin experimented with taking a different approach to the tee shot:
Clearly, it’s a tricky tree that gets in the players’ heads as Kisner said. And as ticked as Thomas had to be about making triple, somewhere, Pete Dye was probably smiling.
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