Justin Thomas's true colors made clear after comment about wife and Rory McIlroy

Justin Thomas has confessed that during the Ryder Cup, he feels animosity towards his good mate Rory McIlroy .

Thomas, aged 31 and a key player for Team USA, has seen success in the event, having been part of the victorious side in 2018 and 2021. His record stands impressive at 7-4-2 overall, with a flawless 3-0-0 in singles matches.

Despite Team Europe's triumph in 2023 with a score of 1612-1112, Thomas contributed by earning half a point in the four-ball and a full point in the singles.

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The pressure of representing one's country is immense for many players, but for Thomas, there's the added challenge of setting aside his friendship with 35-year-old McIlroy to compete .

In a candid moment last year, Thomas revealed: "I would say I would just kind of channel the things that I feel because it's nothing personal. Rory is a great example. I love Rory. We get along extremely well. He's been a role model of mine. He was super nice to me when I was first starting up. He still is."

"We see each other a bunch. Yeah, we played each other in the Ryder Cup and, yeah, we hated each other for 18 holes. Again, it's nothing personal. It's not a dislike as a person."

He even mentioned that if his wife, Jill, were hypothetically playing for Team EU, she'd be considered an adversary during the competition.

Referring to his competitive drive, he stated: "My wife knows; if Jill teed it up in the Ryder Cup for the other team, I'm going to try to beat her pretty bad."

Currently competing at the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon are Thomas and McIlroy, the latter keen to end a decade-long major title drought while Thomas aims to capitalise on his two PGA Championships from 2017 and 2022.

Nonetheless, McIlroy has a steep uphill battle if he is to make any significant progress in the championship, not only in Scotland but globally as well. The four-time major champion presently ranks T112 with a disheartening score of +6 after the first round.

He started off his tournament run with a bogey on hole one, rectified things with a birdie on the third, but the ups and downs didnt stop there.

McIlroy ran into challenges on the notorious eighth hole, referred to as the Postage Stamp, finishing with a double bogey after struggling with the bunkers. He slid further into difficulty with a bogey on the tenth that left him +3 over par.

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Things got even worse for McIlroy on the eleventh, when he drove out of bounds and concluded with another painstaking double bogey.

A bogey on the sixteenth hole pushed McIlroy down to +6, a score that rose to +7 after yet another disappointing bogey on the eighteenth. In stark comparison, Thomas takes the lead at Troon with 18 holes played and ends day one with a strong finish of two birdies, resulting in an impressive score of -3.

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