The three stooges of golf? It’s hard not to think about Justin Thomas’ SG2K Crew with Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, and occasionally Smylie Kaufman, right? They became renowned for their off-season trips and the fun camaraderie they documented on their social media platforms. This included particularly their trips to the Bahamas, which started around 2016.

Well, the Bahamas or not, the boys ensured they spent the spring break together. Back in 2018, when Smylie Kaufman was to be married, the trio were his groomsmen. So, they switched their gears from swim trunks to tuxedos and spent the break in Birmingham. Their fun breaks were refreshing in the golf community. However, their reputation is no longer as it used to be! What happened?

Did the SB2K crew perform better off-course than on-course?

The fun chemistry between the trio became a talking point as their on-course performances started showing a decline over the years. According to the current statistics, it has been over two years since Justin Thomas tasted his last win at the PGA Championship back in May 2022. That year, he finished at T8 at the Masters and dropped down to as low as T53 at the Open.

Justin Thomas has missed the cut at the Masters and the US Open back-to-back in the last two editions, while he dropped down to a T65 at the 2023 PGA Championship. Nonetheless, there was a resurgence in him as he found his way to the top 10 at the PGA Championship. The former No. 1 golfer is now ranked 29 on the OWGR list.

Apart from Justin Thomas, the other two members, Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth, had their own share of PGA Tour victory droughts. The 13-time PGA Tour winner, after grabbing the Claret Jug at the 2017 Open Championship, went straight through 82 events without being able to grab a win. He also dropped out of the Top 100 on the OWGR list. But he came back to the course with a closing 6-under 66, defeating Charley Hoffman with a two-shot victory at the Valero Texas Open in 2021. The next win came to him exactly a year later at the RBC Heritage 2022 in April.

Since then, the barren spell has persisted, as Spieth is once again winless, and it has already been two years. The SB2K boys somehow seem to be following the same pattern. Fowler’s victory drought followed Spieth’s by two years. After winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2019, he went winless for four long years, until the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic. He defeated Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin in a one-hole play-off, and victory had never felt sweeter to him.

Although Spieth and Fowler have yet to get their moments this season, Justin Thomas might be close to getting the limelight and having his moment.

Will the Royal Troon turn out to be lucky for Justin Thomas?

After having the worst-ever season for the Majors, the Open Championship seems to be a ray of hope for Justin Thomas. “I would say it was better today. I felt like I had great control off the tee. I hit some great drives and I felt like I was creative on some of them of just trying to hold it against the winds, off the tees to make the fairways a little bigger and hold it in the fairways,” he said.

Justin Thomas sure has not played his best at the oldest major of golf, and grabbing a 3-under 68, ending his round with back-to-back birdies, has indeed been a turnaround for him. He is currently enjoying the solo third position, three strokes behind Daniel Brown, who is in the lead after the first round. Will he be able to continue his momentum and finally grab a major win after four long years? It remains to be seen!