Even before the Olympics started, Justin Thomas called it the coolest thing, and it is clear that he enjoyed the experience of it as well. But sadly, he couldn’t get his hands on the medal as he finished T22 for the event. However, his compatriot Xander Schauffele won gold, and it looks like Thomas is feeling a bit of good-natured envy.??
Xander Schauffele made a brilliant up-and-down on the final hole from 82 yards to get the medal. Rory Sabbatini, the Slovakian golfer, got silver, and C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei got the bronze after playing a sudden-death playoff.?
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Justin Thomas is quite jealous of Xander Schauffele’s shiny new Olympic gold
“I’m in a house with Xander,” Thomas said on Tuesday afternoon in Memphis, ahead of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. “And I checked the medal out. As soon as I saw him, I wanted to see it … it’s really cool. Obviously, I’m very jealous of anybody who’s won any other major or tournaments that I haven’t, but that might have been the most jealous of someone I’ve been. That gold medal is so sick; it’s so cool; it’s so unique.”
However, this is not the first time Thomas is seeing a golf gold medal. He has seen the gold medal once when Justin Rose won the prestigious event at Rio Olympics in 2016.?
Thomas is one of the few people who is in proximity with golf’s gold medal
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“I saw it with Rosie however many years ago,” Thomas added. “We’re both represented by Mark Steinberg. So we had a big thing one night during a major, and Rosie brought the medal over, so I saw it then. But being a little closer with Xander and obviously in a house with him this week, I felt a little more comfortable taking it from him and being like, hey, let me see that thing.”?
Moreover, it is interesting to note that these are the only two golf’s gold medals in the world. Back in the days when the sport was first contested in 1900, they did not give medals to the winners. And this means Justin Thomas is one of the few people on the earth who has seen both the gold medal up close and has probably touched the only golf Olympic golds that exist in the world.?
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Meanwhile, both Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas flew into Memphis and looked tired in the press conference on Tuesday. However, both of them, along with few other prominent players will compete in the WGC, to get some decent FedExCup points before the playoffs.? ?