Doubting Thomas? 'Faith in myself'

JT came so close to breaking 29-month winless drought in Japan; Nico nudges him out

Only one bogey all week was the difference on Justin Thomas breaking drought (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Justin Thomas had a longer break than perhaps he expected leading up to his appearance at the Zozo Championship in Japan, where he finished tied for second by a stroke on Sunday to Colombia’s Nico Echavarria.

Having qualified for the Tour Championship, Thomas had a better-than-perceived season on the PGA Tour — certainly better than the one in 2023 that still saw him get a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team when he didn’t even make the FedEx Cup playoffs.

This year, however, he was passed over by captain Jim Furyk for the U.S. Presidents Cup team, despite a strong record in previous cup competitions and a season that might have been worthy of selection.

Thomas, 31, is viewed differently given his past record. He has 15 PGA Tour victories, including two major titles. The problem is he hasn’t won since the last of his two PGA Championships in 2022, a span of nearly 30 months.

Which is why Sunday’s result for Thomas was bittersweet.

He played a strong tournament in Japan, trailing by two shots going into the final round. He made just one bogey over 72 holes. But he saw his putter desert him — as it has often over the past two years — and came up a shot short.

He finished with a bogey-free 66 but after making three birdies in his first six holes, Thomas struggled on the greens at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Japan. He had switched back to a mallet putter prior to the tournament that he used in several of his previous victories, but it came up empty as he had a stretch of 11 straight pars. He birdied the last hole, a par-5, but it was too little too late.

“It’s a mixture of obviously bummed and disappointed, but I played so well,” said Thomas, who made just one bogey all week and led the field in several statistical categories, including scrambling. “I played plenty well enough to win the tournament.”

A day earlier when he had put himself in position, Thomas discussed the difficulty of winning. He’s had just two victories over the past four years.

“It’s obviously tough. It’s hard to win at any stage, doesn’t matter who you are,” he said. “If you’re fortunate enough to have a couple hot streaks in your career, whatever it may be, it can not only seem or look easier to yourself but everybody else as well.

“At the end of the day it has been a while, but I’ve still won a pretty good amount of golf tournaments. I know how to win. It’s just a matter of executing and doing it and that’s really been the biggest difference. There’s a reason there’s only one every week. You have to do a lot of things really well and you have to beat a lot of really good players.

“I have a lot of faith in myself and my game, but I can’t control what the other guys do. I’ve just got to play the best I can and believe that it will be good enough.”

Thomas, whose wife is expecting the couple’s first child, has yet to commit to the Hero World Challenge in December, Tiger Woods’ annual fundraiser in the Bahamas where Thomas has been a mainstay.

He might choose to stay home with the new baby, which means he will have to resume his victory quest in January at the Sentry, a tournament he was not eligible for earlier this year but is qualified for in 2025 due to making the Tour Championship.

Nico Echavarria grabbed a handful of perks with his second PGA Tour win (Yong Teck Lim/Getty Images)

For Echavarria, 30, the win was his second on the PGA Tour, but his 2023 win in Puerto Rico was at an opposite event and didn’t come with the same perks.

This victory will see him get a spot in the Masters next year, among several other inviations including the Players, PGA Championship and Sentry.

“I don’t think I would’ve gotten this win without the victory in Puerto Rico. I took a lot from that and kept myself calm,” said Echavarria, who had only one top-10 this season and had missed the cut in his previous four starts. He set the 54-hole scoring record for the event in grabbing a two-shot lead.

He birdied the final hole after reaching the green in two to edge both Thomas and Max Greyserman.

“My parents are at home in Medellin and it’s pretty late there,” Echavarria said. “They stayed up all night watching the golf and I’m glad they did,. Yeah, very happy and emotional just being able to talk to them because my parents are the reason I play this beautiful sport.”