Justin Thomas showed glimpses of his old self as he shot a scintillating 62 to set the pace at the Scottish Open after the first round.
The 31-year-old carded a bogey-free, eight-under 62 to claim a one-stroke lead over Sungjae Im heading into day two at The Renaissance Club.
Amazingly, it is the first time Thomas – a two-time Major winner and former world No.1 – has led a PGA Tour event since his victory at the 2022 PGA Championship 781 days ago.
He said he was delighted with the “great” start to his tournament and felt in control of his game throughout the day.
“Yeah it was nice,” he said after his round. “It’s always good to get off to a good start and even better to get off to a great one. I felt like I was in great control of everything. When I missed it, I missed it in the right spots. I hit a lot of quality shots and capitalized on those four, five, six footers to kind of make something of them. I stole a couple with some long- or mid-range putts.”
One of those putts came at the first as Thomas sunk a 13-footer to get off to the perfect start, before going on a run of four consecutive birdies on the fifth to eighth holes to shoot 30 for his front nine.
He then added three more birdies after the turn before cooling off a little with five-straight pars to finish his round, including sinking a clutch 10-foot putt on 17 to stay bogey-free.
“Like any golfer I would’ve loved to have finished those last five holes a little bit better but I played really solid today,” he said. “And that par putt on 17 was huge. I love going bogey-free so it was nice. I would have had a different taste in my mouth I think walking off 18.”
It was the 54th time in the last decade that Thomas made eight or more birdies in a round – a record on the PGA Tour and a reminder that the 15-time winner who was once the best player in the world might not be done just yet.
Asked about his distinct ability to make birdies, Thomas said: “I’m confident when I get into that mode. Obviously this is as easy as you’re going to get at a links golf course, weather wise and conditions. If you drive it well like I did for the most part today, when you have a lot of short clubs, I see nothing but the pin.
“You have a lot of opportunities to get the ball close with some slopes, but if I have a good number, for the most part I’m trying to figure out how I can hit it as close as possible. And I’m not scared to do so. I just try to keep the pedal down. But it’s also something that I have to learn [to manage] I feel like.”
A new putter in the bag this week, the Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.2 Prototype, also didn't seem to hurt, with Thomas one-putting 10 of his first 13 holes.
Close behind was Im, who sunk nine birdies and two bogeys to card a seven-under 63 to sit in solo second.
Maximilian Kieffer, Haotong Li, Thomas Detry, Ludvig Aberg and Justin Lower are in a tie for third at six-under.
Fifteen players are lurking a shot back at five-under, including Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Collin Morikawa.
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