Q. What do you feel has been different this week compared to the rest of the season?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I mean, I feel like I'm swinging it a little better. But it's never as far off. I feel like I've had a fair amount of tournaments that I've been playing pretty well, I just haven't really had anything to show for it. That's just how the sport is regardless if you have been healthy for 20 years or just coming off of surgery, that fact never changes is that it's a fine line out here. But, yeah, just I feel like I've been working on some of the right stuff and trending the right direction, so just trying to stay positive and patient.
Q. How much of it is this year is because of coming off of surgery and is it the way the body's feeling or just the loss off-season or what is it?
JUSTIN THOMAS: In terms of?
Q. Your play this year. Is there lingering effects from the back surgery you're recovering from or you just didn't have the reps in the off-season to maybe work on things?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I'm not sure. I don't feel like it's anything lingering from surgery. I felt really good, to be honest. I'm very pleased about that. It's not one of those things that it's like all of a sudden once you feel good you're like okay, great, I'm in the clear I don't have to think about it ever again. Obviously you have to stay on top of it. No, it's just golf and just trying to get better. I'm sure having a lot of time off and not being able to work how I normally do is definitely going to have an effect. My wedges are nowhere close to as sharp as I would like them or I feel like how they are for me normally. So that's something I keep on working on. But we'll get there hopefully sooner rather than later.
Q. Coming back, did you anticipate you would have to remind yourself to be patient or did you think you could sort of step in and have you had to say just be patient, it's there, I'm close?
JUSTIN THOMAS: I didn't know what to expect. I thought it was going to be very, I assume you're talking about like starting play again. Yeah, I knew that it was going to be hard. I've always felt like, I mean after even two or three weeks off I'm a little rusty once I start. Like it takes me nine, 10 holes to kind of get in the competitive mindset. So I figured six months off wasn't going to be much better (laughing). It's tough and it's hard because, it's hard to kind of take a step back and look at it from the outside when you're out there living it and doing it. But sometimes that's kind of what you need to do. I'm fortunate I have a great team around me that's there to remind me if I'm getting that way and getting a little impatient. No, it's a long season, it's a lot of big tournaments ahead of me, so just keep trying to improve and get back in contention more often.
Q. Is this the best you felt about your game. I know you had a good PLAYERS I guess it was.
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, it's definitely, I would say so. I mean, I played really well last week, I just putted horrifically. I had a very tough time on those greens. But I played really, really, really well at Augusta and I just had zero to show for it. I drove it well, I felt like I hit a lot of good iron shots. Just was kind of one of those weeks where I couldn't get anything going, couldn't make that putt or get that ball up-and-down that I needed to to either keep momentum or get momentum. And that stuff just kind of, it wears. And a lot of people I think that's the difference of winning and 6th. But that's not, unfortunately, not the case. So I felt like I'm close, but I've really been pleased the last couple weeks how kind of stuff I'm working on to where it's going to feel better about things.
Q. Putting stats are good this week. What have you been working on or what do you feel like is better there?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Using a totally new putter this week. I literally texted Cameron's guys and said, Just give me Cam's putter. I've been watching him make putts for a pretty good amount of time now, and I've always thought it looks really good, so I was like, I want Cam Young's putter. Coincidentally, I get paired with him this week and we had the exact same shoes on yesterday, and it's like, I promise I'm not trying to copy everything you do. But I'm maybe trying to copy everything you do, I don't know. But, yeah, it's a similar putter to what I used in the past, in terms of toe hang and what I felt. But yeah, it's just, for me, it's just so hard to putt well if you don't have confidence; and so hard to have confidence unless you're seeing it go in more often. So I really, really worked hard Monday through Wednesday on my speed and start line and everything to where I just felt like I was in a better place and more freed up when I was putting.
Q. When did you receive that putter?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Monday.
Q. Can you get comfortable on this course having won here or is it just hard?
JUSTIN THOMAS: Yeah, I think comfortable is relative wherever you're at. Comfortable some places is you're trying to shoot 25-under; and comfortable some places is I feel like I can get it around about par. I am comfortable out here, that doesn't obviously just mean that you're going to play it well. But I know how to play it. So that's a start at least, right. I feel like if I'm, you know, if everything is in a good enough place then hopefully that gives me a little bit of an advantage or hopefully it does.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports