Thomas, Justin

Justin Thomas, in full,Justin Louis Thomas, (born April 29, 1993, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.), American golfer who, in 2017, won his first "major" at the 99th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, becoming just the fourth golfer before his 25th birthday to win a major and register five victories in one season. (The other golfers were Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth). At the season ending Tour Championship, he finished second, earning him enough points to win the coveted FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. He was named PGA Player of the Year for 2017.

Thomas comes from a long line of professional golfers. His father (who is also his swing coach) served as Head Professional at the Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, while his grandfather was a 60-year veteran of the PGA Tour who played in the 1962 U.S. Open. Thomas’s golfing skills were evident early on. Prior to his junior year in high school, in 2009, he amazingly finished third in a PGA Tour event, the Wyndham Championship, where at the age of just 16 years, 3 months, and 23 days he became just the third youngest player in history to make the cut on the PGA Tour. In 2012, while at the University of Alabama, he won both the Haskins and the Nicklaus awards, given annually to the country’s top collegiate golfer, and he turned professional the following year at age 20. He won his first tournament on the Web.com tour in 2014 and registered his first PGA victory at CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2016.

Adept at the long put and renowned as one of the game’s foremost power players and big hitters, Thomas has shot some of the lowest scores in golfing history. In winning his first PGA event, he shot a course record 61, and at the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2017, he shot a 59 and became the youngest player in PGA history to shoot a sub-60 score, going on to win by seven shots. And at the 2017 U.S. Open in Erin Hills in Wisconsin, he equalled that major’s lowest round score, shooting a 63.