Why Was the Last Two Years a Nightmare for Justin Thomas Amid the Crushing Masters Defeat?

Justin Thomas has enjoyed a rather stellar career, or has he? After winning the 2017 FedEx Cup Championship, he became the best golfer on the OWGR list in 2018. He landed himself in the top 10 by bagging the 8th position in the Masters 2022, and he even won his second major championship in 2022. Things only went downhill afterward!

He started having a slump in 2022, after winning the PGA Championship, and just could not get back up. He missed the cut in the Charles Schwab Challenge just the week after but bagged the second runner-up position in the RBC Canadian Open. He tied for the 37th position in the US Open and once again missed the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open.

Thomas dropped down to tie for the 53rd position in the Open Championship with a score of 4-under 284. After making it to the Top 15 in the FedEx St. Jude Championship, he again dropped down to tie for the 52nd position at the BMW Championship. The pro then dropped down to the 27th rank on the OWGR list. You’d think this was where Thomas’s hardships ended, but no!

JT also failed to make the cut at the Masters in 2023. The plight he had to undergo yet again in 2024, after a cumulative score of 7-over after two days of golf, Let us dive deeper to get a glimpse at what 2023 looked like.

Navigating the struggles of Justin Thomas in 2023

Justin Thomas began the 2023 season with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he dropped to tie for the 25th position, scoring a 15-under 277, and he was at T25 at the Farmers Insurance Open as well. However, he managed to buckle up for the WM Phoenix Open, bagging the fourth position at 13-under 271.

But again, the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational saw his downfall, where he tied for the 20th and 21st positions, respectively, and from then on, there was no rising for him. Apart from the Masters last year, he missed cuts at significant events like the US Open and the Open Championship. His performance at the PGA Championship was also not good, as he finished at T65.

However, he ended with an average note last year, bagging the 3rd position at the Hero World Challenge. But he did not have any wins the entire year, and well, the streak is repeating this year as well! For a player who was the former best golfer in the world, it is indeed a rather disappointing score for him. In response to this, LIV Golf Nation took to its X account and shared a post sympathizing for him and wrote, “Justin Thomas has missed 4 of the last 5 cuts at Major Championships at 48 over par. Thomas has not won a golf tournament in 2 years.”

However, 2024 started the other way around. At the American Express, he tied for the second runner-up position and was at T6 in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. But he could not keep up with the performance for long. In the seven events he has played so far excluding Masters, he missed cuts at the Genesis Invitational and THE PLAYERS Championship. At Valspar, things got worse, when he recorded his career’s worst putting round.

Is there a curse infused upon the player who has just started enjoying the best days of his professional career? How long till he gets back to his form and makes another win? Stay tuned to find out!