The “cocky” accusations against Justin Thomas are as old as the “competitive” ones. Back in 2024, Thomas Detry sat down on Golf’s Subpar podcast to talk about the World No. 10. His answer to the question if Thomas was just as cocky as he is now? “He was a little cocky.” And, oh, Detry shares Thomas used to spit a lot as well. “Like he was a 14-year-old kid just spitting around on the golf course.” Well, that does not paste a picture of a calm, cool, and collected Justin Thomas.

Fast forward to 2025, and Rickie Fowler shared his bit. Talking about the competitive spirit between the three close friends — Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, and Jordan Spieth — he said, “It’s fun when your friends play well. But it’s even more fun when you beat your friends when they play well.” As natural as it is, the interviewer asked him who he would hate to lose the most. His answer? “It’d probably be JT. JT chirps a little bit more.” Interestingly, this Justin Thomas smear doesn’t seem to end anytime soon.

Even Jordan Spieth recently sat down for a press conference at the ongoing Valspar Championship. The conversation moved to Justin as naturally as anything else can. “Playing three rounds with J.T., a fun vibe, does it feel in a way like match play against him in a Saturday two-ball–“ the interviewer asks. Jordan Spieth seems to be enjoying the moment. His answer?

“Not really, I didn’t feel that way. I always want to, at the end I wanted to get to where I was tied with him so we could just play again tomorrow. But we always want to beat each other when we’re playing with each other and that pushes us to play better.” He added his bit into his own performance and then admitted Thomas’s position looks much better. “Being at 5-under, like he is, you probably have a pretty good chance at this golf tournament, considering he could go shoot another 6-under tomorrow and then have a chance to win. For me, I’m a little bit further behind.”

A lot to dig into. However, since we are talking about their latest Valspar Championship appearance, let’s discuss that first. Spieth is currently playing T19 with a score of -3. However, Thomas is doing much better! He currently sits at T7 with a score of -5.

Let’s take a look at one of the moments where we saw that competitive spirit in Thomas. Back at the 2024 American Express, Thomas watched a replay of his hole-in-one. When the interviewer asked to review the clip, he smiled and said: “I don’t know if I’m going to like this video. That was so cruel. Obviously, a great shot, but going 20, 30 feet past and then having that happen. Oh well, good 2. One and a half.” And he sounds just as pissed when he makes bad shots. Back in the 2020 PGA Championship, and during a frustrating moment in the final round, he muttered: “You’ve gotta be f**king kidding me.” But hey, enough from others, let’s hear it from Thomas himself!

Justin Thomas says team mentality fuels his competitive spirit

Back in 2022, Justin Thomas sat down for an interview. During it, he shared something that we have been wanting to hear for a long time. But first, the context. Back then, Thomas was set to be a part of the 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup team. Boasting a stellar team golf record of 16-5-3 across two Ryder Cups and three Presidents Cups. Then, he was part of the TGL in January–something that didn’t take place until this year. Of course, the topic moved to team sport. So, Justin Thomas shared his views regarding team play.

“Team golf events have always been highlights throughout my career as the us-vs.-them mentality fuels my competitive spirit.” But his competitive spirit also comes because of his love for golf. Adding to his previous statement, the golfer had said that he hoped to increase the sport’s charm among the audience along with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, the foundational fathers of this tech-based league.

Additionally, he was present at the Valspar Championship press conference alongside Spieth. So, when Thomas and Spieth are playing alongside in a PGA Tour round, does it feel like they’re coming H2H? Spieth answered “Not really,” and thought that would be the end of it. However, the competitive and honest Thomas wasn’t going to back off. “I think both of us would probably be lying if we said no.” Honestly, at this point, we can say these best friends know each other better than we do! It wouldn’t be surprising at all if tomorrow Thomas finally joins in on the conversation and takes one of his bestie’s names! What do you think?