New season, same old JT, a 461-yard drive and what was that outfit?

What happened at the CJ Cup?

What exactly were you expecting? Justin Thomas notched up his first win of the new season, his fifth of the calendar year and, with it, moved to third in the world. He did it by beating Marc Leishman at the second extra hole after both players made spectacular birdies (see Best Shot) at the par-5 18th to edge out Cameron Smith by a shot.

Both parred the same hole at the first extra hole and then the Aussie hit a stinker of a fairway wood to let in Thomas who buttoned another approach to set up a tap-in, two-putt birdie.

The bulk of Thomas’ scoring in Korea was done with an opening 63, there then followed rounds of 74-70-72 as the conditions stiffened up. On Sunday he even had a double-bogey seven at the 3rd before gathering himself.

 

“I just kept telling myself it was a bad golf swing, it wasn’t a mental error or a wrong judgement that we made, it was just a bad golf swing at a pretty bad time,” Thomas said.

Talking point

• Let’s try and put Justin Thomas’ last 10 weeks into some sort of perspective. Coming into the PGA Championship he was 14th in the world having missed three straight cuts in June/July. He then won his first major, he then beat Jordan Spieth by three in the Dell Technologies Championship which was part of the FedEx play-offs; he was second behind Xander Schauffele at the Tour Championship which gave him the FedEx Cup, he went 3-1-1 in the Presidents Cup mauling (on debut), he won the Player of the Year and now he’s won already in the new season.                                                                                               “I’m so excited to not do anything,” he said after the play-off which seems fair enough.

• Something to cheer you up maybe. If you’ve had a disappointing weekend on the fairways (rough) then this might cheer you up. Ben An was going along nicely when he came to the short 13th. He then did this…

Golf is hard. pic.twitter.com/yUQiiL2YeR

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2017

Shots of the week

This is basically a JT showreel..

Twirling his way to another win. pic.twitter.com/GY8JE1fcmu

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2017

Pressure? What pressure?@marcleish throws a dart from 261 yards on the 72nd hole. ?#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/2h2re44ffl

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2017

.@JustinThomas34 needs an eagle on the 72nd hole to win …

He takes dead aim. ?#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/TfD2C1iSDj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2017

.@marcleish has all the shots.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/cxsQ5RcIgy

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 22, 2017

461 yards. #MustSeeMoments pic.twitter.com/AYkgIvUiN5

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 21, 2017

JT's bunker blast has eyes.#ShotOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/vgMHYADypD

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 19, 2017

.@JustinThomas34 can do it all. pic.twitter.com/ScBhb2ZMXB

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 20, 2017

Golf shot. ???#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/pXhAPA7krU

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 20, 2017

Bae watch. ?#ShotOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/2DquJ2Hjcr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 20, 2017

Quote of the week

“I had a seven-hole stretch there where I sort of went unconscious” – Justin Thomas on his opening 63

Best dressed

What a lovely pair of trousers. Call them what you will; powder blue, baby blue, they’re a lovely shade and Kelly (Kraft) has kept things simple with just a grey zip top.

Best/worst dressed?

I’m still a bit undecided by Morgan Hoffmann’s jacket/top here. The part of me that liked the Happy Mondays in 1988 and couldn’t care less what people wear on the course likes it a lot, the other part of me wouldn’t be seen dead in it. He’s got some sort of strange hieroglyphics going on here but, hey, it’s different.

Worst dressed

I know what you’re thinking, what’s wrong with this from Paul Casey? Other than looking like something from Chariots of Fire or Aintree the only question I would ask is this – would you buy/wear this yourself? If the answer is yes then I apologise but it’s not, is it?

Best tweets

Sometimes stating the bleeding obvious is the best way.

The CJ Cup appears to not be a cup. pic.twitter.com/Je7BBw9Q60

— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) October 22, 2017

This isn’t necessarily relevant to events in South Korea but it’s a nice watch and he might be the coolest person on the planet. And he’s a golfer.

Is there anything this man isn't good at? ⛳???#PGATour #AdamScott #CJCup pic.twitter.com/Qs2WGX3mlJ

— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) October 20, 2017

If you don’t follow Jason Sobel then you should.

Justin Thomas opens with a 9-under 63 at the CJ Cup, just in case you thought his 2016-17 season was, like, some sort of fluke or something.

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) October 19, 2017

Best stats

Converting 54-hole leads/co-leads on PGA Tour in 2017:@JustinThomas34 4-for-5@JordanSpieth 3-for-4
All other players combined – 8-for-30

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) October 22, 2017

Most wins before age 25 on PGA Tour, last 30 seasons:

Woods 24
Spieth 11
Thomas 7
McIlroy 6
Mickelson 6

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGC) October 22, 2017

 

Last time the Top3 #OWGR were from USA:

May 2010
1.Tiger
2.Phil
3.Stricker
Average age: 39.2

Oct 2017
1.DJ
2.Spieth
3.JT
Average age: 27.4

— Nosferatu (@VC606) October 22, 2017

Pat Perez' scoring average last 18 rounds on TOUR:

6️⃣8️⃣.2️⃣2️⃣ pic.twitter.com/vFREK7tbHD

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 20, 2017