Justin Thomas may have bagged his first win in three years, but he will be hoping that his play-off victory over the winless Andrew Novak doesn’t come back to haunt him
PGA star Justin Thomas has revealed his fear of being tormented by his colleagues after beating Andrew Novak in a play-off at the RBC Heritage last Sunday.
Thomas, 31, brought his winless streak to a halt as he pocketed a handsome $3.6 million for his victory. While it was his first win since clinching the PGA Championship in 2022, his triumph meant he denied Novak an inaugural PGA Tour success.
However, after hearing about how Jordan Spieth, 31, was given a hard time for beating Tom Gillis in 2015, Thomas will now be wary of being known as the player who possibly prevented Novak from truly kicking off his career.
Speaking on the Pardon My Take podcast, Thomas relayed the story of how Spieth unwittingly became public enemy number one, for a whole year, after beating former pro Gillis at the John Deere Classic.
The 46-year-old Gillis was attempting to become the oldest first-time winner on the PGA Tour in 20 years, yet he was denied by the three-time major winner.
“Spieth was in a play-off with Tom Gillis, who doesn’t play professionally anymore, and Jordan beat him,” Thomas said on the podcast.
“And for the whole year [PGA star] Jason Duffner was grilling Jordan like ‘man, you just ruined Tom Gillis’ career, he would’ve had a two-year exemption, he would’ve been in Maui, he could’ve taken his family there, he could’ve been swimming with the dolphins with the tournament champions, but you had to beat him in a play-off and ruin his life’.”
Thomas was then confronted with the fear that he has now unwillingly earned his own Spieth moment. However, he shared his confidence that Novak would eventually go on to achieve success.
“I got faith,” Thomas said. “Gilly was a little closer to the end of his career, and Andrew’s playing well, but I hadn’t thought of that after telling the story, and so I definitely hope it pans out now [for Novak].”
Novak entered last week at No. 62 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He had just two top-10 finishes all season and missed six cuts in 12 starts.
The 30-year-old almost picked up his inaugural win at the Bermuda Championship last fall, but he finished in second. This was his first-ever playoff, yet success wasn’t to be thanks to Thomas.
Thomas and Novak had to head back out to replay the 18th on Sunday night, after Novak missed a prime opportunity to pick up his maiden win at Harbour Town in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
After a short battle, Thomas sank a 21-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to seal his victory. The star’s barren streak didn’t seem it would ever materialise, considering the start to his professional golf career.
Thomas won five times during the 2016-17 season, including his first major title at the PGA Championship. He also won the Players Championship and another PGA Championship in the following five years.
After the play-off, he said to CBS: “Winning’s hard. It’s really, really hard. I’ve worked my butt off and stayed patient, stayed positive.
“I’ve got a great wife, great team, have a great daughter … Just take it for granted sometimes when you get on those runs. I didn’t realize how much I missed winning. Battling out there today was just so much fun.”
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