The Genesis Invitational ended on an exciting note. Ludvig Aberg sunk an impressive birdie under pressure to claim his second PGA Tour title over Maverick McNealy by one stroke. Fans at Torrey Pines witnessed strong showings from Scottie Scheffler(T3) and Tony Finau(T5), but one person’s performance could easily slip under the radar. That person is none other than Justin Thomas.

Thomas scored 3 under par on the final day to finish T9 with a score of -6 for the entire tournament. How is that special? That is just a good performance in a day full of positivity. It is special because, with the T9 finish, Justin Thomas has finally cracked into the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time in nearly 2 years. Imagine, it’s been 1002 days since he won something.

Justin Thomas’s Road to Top 10

Justin Thomas started the 2023 Masters Tournament placed 10 in the OWGR but a Missed Cut at the Augusta National Golf Club saw the American pro slip to 12. Thomas then went on to miss five cuts at the next 10 tournaments which saw his rankings slip further to 26.

Despite, recovering to register 4 top 5 finishes in 5 tournaments, Thomas could only manage to elevate his ranking to 23. However, he did gain 7 positions after the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His T6 finish pushed his ranking up seven places back to the top 20, finishing the tournament ranked 19.

However, a lack of consistency seriously affected his rankings. What should have been a momentum builder, turned out to be the exact opposite. Thomas slipped further down the rankings hitting as low as 33 after a T30 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August 2024.

But Justin Thomas did not fold. The two-time Major winner displayed brilliant resilience. He claimed 6 top-10 finishes in 8 PGA Tour events. His ranking reached 15 before the 2025 WM Phoenix Open in Arizona before a T6 finish catapulted him to the World No.11. A strong T9 finish at the Genesis Invitational made sure that Thomas was back where he belonged. And yes, at the expense of Bryson DeChambeau.

Now that he is back in the top 10, Thomas will want to shift his focus to the next challenge – a 16 PGA Tour trophy.

Justin’s long trophy drought

May 22, 2022. That was when the University of Alabama alum won his last trophy. He beat Will Zalatoris in an enthralling playoff at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Notably, Justin claimed his second major and 15 PGA Tour victory.

Thomas came close several times since then including five top 3 finishes from 2023 with his closest finishes coming at the 2024 ZOZO championship, where he missed out by 1 stroke. Likewise, the recently concluded American Express Open saw him losing to Sepp Straka by two strokes. However, despite the drought, Justin Thomas has shown strong mental resilience and strength.

Justin Thomas, by his own admission, has “always been fiery, I’ve always maybe had a little chip on my shoulder, whatever you want to call it.”  Speaking to the press before, the American Express event on the 2025 PGA Tour, he laid bare his thought process. The two-time major winner does not like to dwell on mistakes, something that has helped him a lot in his career.“It’s just, no, 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, it’s how I deal with whatever’s going on.”

Thomas’s momentum will more than likely propel him further ahead. It has been 1002 days since his last PGA Tour victory and with every tournament that passes by, his victory seems inevitable. What do you think of his chances of breaking the trophy drought in the coming month?