The 2025 PLAYERS Championship has started as a tough battle for some big names, with Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas, and Max Homa all struggling to get things going. For Thomas, who won this prestigious event in 2021, the hope was to continue building on a couple of positive results earlier this year. However, his round at TPC Sawgrass quickly unraveled. Starting on the 10th tee, Thomas was cruising with two birdies in his first seven holes.

But disaster struck on the iconic 17th hole, where he found the water, leading to a double bogey. Unfortunately, things only worsened from there as he once again found the water on the daunting 18th hole, carding another unfortunate double bogey. That wasn’t all – a bogey-double-bogey-bogey stretch at holes 3, 4, and 5 put him in serious trouble, costing him five shots in just four holes.

According to the reports and statistics shared by Rick Gehman, JT lost 9.09 strokes ball-striking (OTT & APP) in the first round of the fifth major. This marked as the worst round of his career and would be the 3rd worst round of any golfer in 2025. Talk of having a bad day! At Valspar last year, Thomas delivered the worst putting performance of his career. He carded seven bogeys and a double – and no more birdies – en route to an 8-over 79, which dropped Thomas to T-66 heading into Sunday. 

Do you know that the fourth U.S. Open marked the first time the event was contested over 72 holes? It happened at Myopia Hunt Club in Massachusetts, a challenging nine-hole course measuring just 2,928 yards. The tournament saw 49 players take the starting tee, with nine posting scores over 100 in the opening round. 

John Dunn Tucker’s score of 157 stood out as particularly remarkable. Out of the 180 rounds played during that U.S. Open, 19 resulted in triple-digit scores, and only two rounds managed to break the 80 mark. That remains the worst round in the history of golf tournaments. But, sadly, JT is now in the top 3 of something where he should not be, and the golf world is not happy.

The golf community mocks Justin Thomas

Justin Thomas has always embraced his fiery nature, admitting that he’s often had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. “I don’t like to dwell on missed shots,” he shared, explaining that he quickly moves on from setbacks. “I may get pissed off for a couple seconds, but as soon as it’s done, I’m on to the next one. That’s just how I cope with it, how I deal with whatever’s going on.” Mental strength has been key for Thomas in navigating the highs and lows of the game. His approach? “Just not acting like anybody but myself,” he said. But he also joked, “Us golfers are kind of sick in the head.” Golf is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one, and even the most seasoned players can struggle. 

Despite coming so close to victory in recent years—his last win was the 2022 PGA Championship—Thomas has remained composed. For instance, at the Hero World Challenge last year, he shot 18 under par, finishing just one spot shy of the win. Similarly, at the Zozo Championship, Thomas ended up just a stroke behind the winner, N. Echavarria, with a total score of 26 under par. While JT believes that he is always able to keep his calm, this time, one of the fans believes that he could not remain himself. They questioned, “What do we attribute this to?  Mental?”

Despite being more than two years removed from his last win, Justin Thomas remains as confident as ever. The 31-year-old former University of Alabama standout headed to the Sentry with his sights set on achieving his best season yet. “I still truly believe I can have a year like Scottie (Scheffler) did,” Thomas said, referring to the world No. 1, who secured seven wins in 2024, including the Masters and the Tour Championship.

 “I think it would be selling myself short if I didn’t believe I could achieve that. I have a lot of confidence in my game, and I feel like I’m working on the right things.” He was, of course, criticised a lot for saying this, and well, he is still being mocked. Even in a recent post, one of them commented, “What does he have to do to catch up with Scottie’s 2024 season?”

With his hopes of making the weekend on the line, Thomas dug deep and fought back, finishing the round with birdies at the eighth and ninth holes. Though still facing an uphill battle, his late surge left him with a glimmer of hope heading into Friday, knowing that with a strong second round, he could still make a run. Taking to that, one of them wrote, “Birdied last two holes he played. Got to give him credit for that.” However, another took to his score and simply wrote, “2-under through 7. Unimaginable pain.”

One of the fans, probably making fun of Justin Thomas and all the other fans who believe that he had such a terrible round because they bet on him, commented, “My buddy said he had a dream JT wins.”

Do you think the 31-year-old will be able to bounce back? Stay tuned to find out what his fate has in store for him!