Some day – mark my words – Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are going to be in the booth together doing commentary. It may be on some still-to-be created app or the next Netflix but give it 30 years and when those guys are finally done collecting baubles on the senior circuit (if there still is a senior circuit), they’re going to take TV commentary next level.
Thomas showed his talking head skills late Wednesday night – or was it early Thursday morning? The Golf Channel televised the Zozo Championship from 11 p.m.-3 a.m. ET and for those who stayed up for first round coverage, they were treated to Thomas joining the booth with the underrated jack-of-all-trades George Savaricas and former Tour pro Graham DeLaet, who has been cutting his teeth as an analyst for PGA Tour Live and is the go-to-guy for Canada’s TSN.
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After shooting 4-under 66 at Narashino Golf Club, Thomas touched on a wealth of subjects. While showing the highlights of his round, Savaricus asked Thomas about his switch back to a mallet putter this week.
“It’s great, it’s Old Faithful. I’ve had a lot of success and won a lot of tournaments with this putter,” Thomas said. “It’s a familiar, familiar feeling.”
We learned that No. 11 is a hole he’ll take par and run and some other course strategy stuff that will be useful to know while enjoying the next three rounds. Then Thomas was asked about his struggles last year and how he’s bounced back and he gave some great insight into the mental game of a major champion and former world No. 1.
“This game is so hard and can really take so much out of you and beat you up some but you’re also never as far it seems,” he said. “Is it the chicken or the egg? Was I hitting it bad and not playing well because my mental game wasn’t good or was it vice-versa?”
He continued: “I always tell people that I’m sorry, but golf is my job and if I’m not playing good golf it’s pretty hard for me to be happy. I understand everyone has different outlooks, but it’s like you need to be out there and enjoy it, but it’s like, buddy, would you be happy if you were sucking at your job? So, no, I’m not going to be happy.”
Justin Thomas will soon be a dad
Before things got too deep for late-night TV and went off the rails, Savaricas lightened the mood by bringing up the fact that Thomas was about to be last member of the Spring Break club – following in the footsteps of Spieth, Smylie Kaufman and Rickie Fowler – to become a dad. Thomas and his wife, Jillian, are expecting their first child, a daughter, in November.
“On the flight home, once this tournament is over, it’s going to become pretty real for me,” admitted Thomas, who likely is making his last start for the foreseeable future.
When Savaricus asked which of the guys he’d be most likely to ask for some advice on doing diapers, Thomas cracked, “Next question.”
“I’d ask all of their wives,” he added.
“Well played,” Savaricus said.
So about Rickie Fowler’s hair
The camera cut to Fowler weighing his next shot and Savaricus did a splendid job of setting Thomas up for his best analysis of all.
“How about Rickie’s flow now? He’s really letting it go in back,” Savaricus noted.
Hey, at 2 a.m., this is the stuff the viewer has been waiting for, am I right?
“I’m not a real big ‘Mullet Rick’ fan,” Thomas said. “I like the short hair Rickie. It’s wild, he looks about 5-8 years younger when he has his hair short. He always has something – it’s the stache, it’s the hair – but it’s Rick, you know, you’ve got to love him for whatever it is.”
This segment with Thomas easily was the highlight of the late night-early morning coverage, and further proof that Thomas, who was great working with Charles Barkley and company on the broadcast of The Match, has a future behind the mic when he’s ready to hang up the spikes.
He even delivered one more line worthy of chuckles. As he signed off, DeLaet said what every man is supposed to say to a soon-to-be papa: “You’re going to be a great dad.”
“Aah,” Thomas said as if he was touched by the comment. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Justin Thomas’s late-night stint in the Golf Channel booth at Zozo Championship includes analyzing Rickie Fowler’s flow and more: ‘I’m not a real big Mullet Rick fan’
