Background and career
Justin Louis Thomas (born April 29, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and is a former world number one. In 2017, Thomas experienced a breakout year, winning five PGA Tour events and the FedEx Cup championship. He has won two major golf championships, winning the PGA Championship in 2017 and 2022. In May 2018, Thomas became the 21st player to top the Official World Golf Ranking. After winning his second major, Thomas struggled in 2023 and 2024, falling outside the top 30 in the world for the first time in over seven years. In 2025, Thomas returned to the winner's circle for the first time in nearly three years, winning the RBC Heritage and returning to the top 10 in the OWGR.
Thomas was born on April 29, 1993, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended North Oldham Middle School. Prior to his junior year in high school, he played in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in August 2009 and became the third-youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event, at 16 years, 3 months and 24 days. Thomas graduated from St. Xavier High School in 2011. Thomas' father, Mike Thomas, has been the head professional at the Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, since 1990. Thomas grew up an avid fan of his hometown Louisville Cardinals.
Thomas played college golf at the University of Alabama, where he placed first six times for the Crimson Tide. As a freshman in 2012, he won the Haskins Award and the Jack Nicklaus Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. He was on the national championship team of 2013.
Thomas turned professional in 2013, deciding to forgo his final two years of college, and earned his tour card on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school. He won his first professional event at the 2014 Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. Thomas finished fifth in the 2014 Web.com Tour regular season, and third after the Web.com Tour Finals, and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2015 season. In 2015, Thomas collected seven top-10s and 15 top-25s, with fourth-place finishes at the Quicken Loans National and Sanderson Farms Championship as his best results. He finished 32nd at the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, losing the Rookie of the Year award to Daniel Berger. On November 1, 2015, Thomas earned his first victory on the PGA Tour by winning the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by a single stroke over Adam Scott. He overcame a double bogey on the 14th hole during the final round and holed a six-foot (1.8 m) par putt to claim the win by a stroke. Thomas had earlier shot a course-record 61 during the second round to contribute to a 26-under-par winning score.
Thomas successfully defended his title at the CIMB Classic in October 2016 for his second tour win. Thomas won the SBS Tournament of Champions in January 2017 for his third PGA Tour win. In the following week's tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii, Thomas became the seventh player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. During the first round, he opened his round with an eagle and needed to make an eagle on the ninth, his last hole of the day, to shoot 59. He became the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 round. Thomas finished with rounds of 64, 65, and 65 to win the tournament by 7 strokes. He set tournament records for 18, 36, 54, and 72 holes (59, 123, 188, and 253, respectively). He set PGA Tour records at 36 and 72 holes and tied the 54-hole record.
During the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Thomas equalled the U.S. Open single-round record of 63. He eagled the last hole by hitting his 3-wood to 8 feet on the par-5 hole to finish at 9-under-par, also a U.S. Open record, passing the previous record held by Johnny Miller at Oakmont Country Club. In the fourth round, he played alongside Brian Harman in the final grouping, the first time he had done that in a major championship. He shot a three-over-par 75 and finished in a tie for ninth place. In August 2017, Thomas won his first major, the 2017 PGA Championship, winning by two shots.
