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After difficult months, the 'old Justin Thomas' emerges as The Players champion – Golf Channel

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4 years ago

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Seated in the front row at the outdoor trophy presentation, Mike Thomas wiped his eyes, his nose, his mouth. Normally stoic behind mirrored sunglasses and a black neck gaiter, he’d finally broken down – the toll of a trying few months, both as a father and as a son. He needed to gather himself, so he hiked up his pants, ambled over and patted his son on the shoulder.

“That looked like a round by the old Justin Thomas,” he beamed.

No doubt, the quality of Thomas’ golf looked frighteningly familiar – the laser irons and the birdie binges and the putter raises. They all added up to a masterful final-round performance at TPC Sawgrass, where he hit 17 greens, shot a 4-under 68 and won The Players Championship by a shot over Lee Westwood. Add another line to his résumé: He’s just the fourth player to win a major, The Players, a World Golf Championship and the FedExCup. At 27, he’s already a lock for the Hall of Fame.

But his buoyant mood belied what had been, in his words, a “crappy couple months,” and was the reason why he and his family were overcome with the kind of emotion that hadn’t been seen during his previous 14 titles.

“I kept telling everyone on my team and my family that I’m ready for something good to happen this year,” he said. “It’s been a pretty bad year, and a lot of bad things have happened. But that’s life. That’s part of it.”

Mike Thomas emotional discussing Justin Thomas’ Players win

Yes, there were bad things, plural, starting with the anti-gay slur that he uttered to himself and was picked up by a hot mic at the opening event of 2021. But since then, the question has become how much penance is sufficient. Thomas had apologized profusely, in multiple interviews, and seemed appropriately contrite and sincere. He publicly stated that he understood why a longtime sponsor would dump him. He vowed to go through sensitivity training to better himself. And yet he still seemed to carry the weight of that mistake with him.

“I think the pushback hurt him,” Mike Thomas said. “It was the first time that he was faced with something like that, and it hurt him a lot. He had much more support, but I think it’s human nature that you focus on the negatives.”

Star athletes have weathered all sorts of controversies. Sex scandals. Substance abuse problems. Domestic violence incidents. It’s a reminder that these athletes are still human beings who have flaws other than just a streaky putting stroke or shoddy wedge play. No one in the Internet age has endured more PR crises than Thomas’ boyhood idol, Tiger Woods. In 2013, after Woods won for the first time since his personal life unraveled following sordid details of infidelity, Nike released an advertising campaign proclaiming that “winning takes care of everything.” His popularity rating at the time suggested otherwise, but sports fans are a forgiving bunch. They love winners and greatness, and Woods’ enduring appeal underscores that.

The Players Championship: Full-field scores | Full coverage

Represented by the same management company as Woods, Thomas continued to say all the right things, but his shaky play had given the sporting public little reason to move past the distraction. “It was just a lot, and it took a lot out of me mentally,” he said. “But at the same time, I had to figure it out and had to get over it. If I wanted to come to these tournaments and have a chance to win, then I needed to suck it up and get over it. If I wanted to throw a pity party for myself, or feel sorry for myself, then there’s no reason to show up, and I can stay home until I feel like I’m ready. I felt like I was in a good enough head space where I could play. I just wasn’t playing well. And then once I wasn’t playing well, it was kind of snowballing.”

A month later, on the eve of the final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Thomas learned that his 89-year-old grandfather, Paul, a lifelong PGA member and the patriarch of a golfing family, had passed away. Thomas was in contention at the time, in a tie for fifth. Mike Thomas said his son considered not playing the final day.

“I just told him …” Mike Thomas said, breaking down in tears. He finally gathered himself after a 30-second pause. “I just knew my dad would have wanted him to go out and play. He played a great round that Sunday (72) with all that going on.”

Thomas showed up two weeks later at Riviera with his heart still broken and his game out of sorts. Five-hour rounds allow plenty of time for introspection – and to dwell on the turmoil in his personal life.

“He was just distracted,” said his caddie, Jimmy Johnson. “His concentration was lacking.”

Justin Thomas plays ‘one of the best rounds of my life’

Justin Thomas plays 'one of the best rounds of my life'

A few days later, another reason for distraction: Woods was seriously injured in a car crash in Southern California. At the time, Thomas was preparing to play in the World Golf Championships event outside Tampa. He learned the news about 15 minutes before a pre-tournament news conference. Little was known at the time of Woods’ condition, and Thomas wiped away tears while talking about how he hoped his close friend was OK.

“I think that hurt him a lot,” Mike Thomas said. “It’s just the first time for a young kid that it all steamrolled and hit him at once. We all go through that and that was his time. He fought through it. There’s people that have a whole lot more problems than we do, but that was his first time really dealing with the discomfort that comes with losing loved ones and the backlash of everything that happened before that.”

At the encouragement of his girlfriend, Jill Wisniewski, Thomas sought professional help. “I’m not embarrassed to say that I reached out to talk to people to let my feelings out and just discuss stuff with them,” he said. “Especially at our level, a lot of people probably think that they’re bigger and better than that, but some of the thoughts and things that I was feeling, it wasn’t fair to myself, and I needed to do something.”

Thomas arrived here at TPC Sawgrass in a better head space, if only slightly. Early in the week, when asked about his mental state, he allowed only that he was doing “OK” and that he has “definitely been better.”

His game had once again given him few reasons for optimism. Uncharacteristically struggling off the tee, he opened with consecutive rounds of 71 and was seven back heading into the weekend. Father and son worked on the range, trying to keep the club more down the line at the top of the swing.

“That’s all you need to do,” Mike told him.

In the third round, Thomas ripped off the low score of the tournament, an 8-under 64 that vaulted him into contention, three shots off the lead. Still, he downplayed his game: “It was only one round. It’s not like I feel unbelievable again and I’m back to how I felt in 2017 or ’18.” He started slowly in the final round, playing the first eight holes in 1 over and remaining three back as he played the par-5 ninth. Facing a 236-yard shot into a narrow opening of the green, Thomas rifled a 5-iron that settled 23 feet away, leading to a two-putt birdie. That’s all he needed to see.

A 7-footer on 10. A 20-footer for eagle on 11. An up-and-down for another birdie on 12. He played a four-hole stretch in 5 under, leapfrogging Westwood. A two-putt birdie on the par-5 16th gave him a one-shot advantage that he wouldn’t relinquish.

“That was a ball-striking clinic today,” Johnson said.

This was the largest fan footprint in nine months, with roughly 10,000 streaming through the gates, and they’re reliably some of the most boisterous on Tour. The question lingered: How would they greet Thomas, after his “crappy few months”?

With chants of “J-T! J-T!”

With calls of “Roll Tide!”

With unwavering support. They gave him a standing ovation as he strode toward the island green at 17.

Indeed, it sounded, felt and looked like a round by the old JT. He twirled his clubs and pumped his fist and hit a record-tying 17 greens in regulation – his only miss by a few inches on the closing hole, with a sand wedge.

“I’ve been working really hard on getting myself back to where I should be and where I want to be,” Thomas said, before adding: “Winning definitely helps. Winning helps everything.”

Waiting behind the 18th green was Mike Thomas, who is a fixture at tournaments and, unlike most golf dads, rarely shows emotion. He gave his son a hug and sent him on his way, but once someone mentioned how proud his dad must have felt, looking down, he lost it, and started sobbing into his neck gaiter.

His emotions were still raw a half hour later. 

“He’s tougher than I am,” Mike Thomas said. “He’s just stayed himself through this. He hasn’t ranted about anything. He hasn’t gone off on anybody. He’s done the work. I’m proud of that. He’s a good kid. This is big for him. This is a big breakthrough.”

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Armstrong scores, surging Vancouver Whitecaps beat slumping San Jose Earthquakes 2-0

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1 day ago

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September 15, 2024

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VANCOUVER – As the Major League Soccer season ticks down, Vanni Sartini wants his Vancouver Whitecaps to make a declaration — the team is ready to compete.

“The time of hiding ourselves, I think it’s over,” the coach said after the ‘Caps earned a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday.

“We need to really say that we are here to try to be at the ball until the end and trying to shoot for the highest position. That doesn’t mean that we’re going to make it, but we have the quality to do it.”

With seven games left on their regular-season schedule, the ‘Caps (13-8-6) sit in fifth spot in the congested Western Conference, just two points out of fourth.

Saturday’s loss officially eliminated the last-place Earthquakes (5-21-2) from post-season action.

Vancouver has been on a hot streak since returning from the Leagues Cup break and is unbeaten (3-0-1) in its last four outings across all competitions. The team has not allowed a goal in those matches.

“It’s the fact that we play really well,” Sartini said of the clean sheets. “We have the ball a lot, we finish our attack most of the time in their box. So it’s really hard for the other team to attack us. And then when they attack us, in the rare times that they arrive in the final third, we’re very solid.”

Recent additions have bolstered the team’s ranks, including the club’s newest designated player, Stuart Armstrong. The 32-year-old Scottish midfielder scored his first MLS goal Saturday.

Three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Alessandro Schopf, Armstrong gave Vancouver a two-goal cushion in the 87th minute.

Midfielder Pedro Vite dished a short pass to ‘Caps captain Ryan Gauld, who tapped it toward Armstrong. The former Southampton FC player then blasted a shot into the top of the net for his first strike in a Whitecaps’ jersey.

He was mobbed by teammates in the corner of the field.

“I think everyone was happy. Also for the first goal, but also that it was an important three points,” said Armstrong, who signed with the ‘Caps on Sept. 3.

“It kind of felt a little bit like last week, when we had a lot of chances and we didn’t get the three points. So today, I think everyone was just relieved to have that two-goal cushion.”

Vancouver was the dominant team from the outset Saturday and did not relent, outshooting the visitors 19-5 and controlling 54.1 per cent of possession.

Fafa Picault also found the back of the net for Vancouver, while Gauld contributed a pair of assists.

Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka stopped both shots he faced to collect his seventh clean sheet of the year, while Daniel made nine saves for the Quakes.

Gauld and Picault teamed up in the 22nd minute when Gauld curled a cross in and the Haitian striker headed it down toward the net, only to see Daniel catch a piece of the shot with his forearm and redirect it out of harm’s way.

The duo connected again in the 35th minute on a Vancouver corner. Gauld swung a ball in and Picault jumped up from the pack to send a glancing header in past Daniel for his ninth MLS goal of the season.

San Jose briefly appeared to level the score in the 68th minute when an unmarked Ousseni Bouda collected the ball, froze Takaoka and tapped a shot into the Vancouver net. An official quickly raised the offside flag and waved off the tally.

Daniel kept San Jose’s deficit to a single goal with a pair of solid stops in the 82nd minute.

First, the Brazilian ‘keeper dove sideways on his line to tip away a bomb from Alessandro Schopf. He was tested again on the ensuing corner and jumped up to send a header from Picault over the crossbar.

“I think we created a lot of chances again,” Gauld said.

“We probably should have put the game out of their reach sooner. But we’d be more worried if we weren’t creating the chances. Three clean sheets in a row in the league, I think it’s a big thing for us. And it gives us a good platform to go forward.”

NOTES

Vancouver played without leading scorer Brian White for a third consecutive game as the American striker works his way back from a concussion. … Gauld’s second assist marked his 15th goal contribution (six goals, nine assists) in his last 15 Whitecaps games across all competitions. … An announced crowd of 21,309 took in the game at B.C. Place.

UP NEXT

The Whitecaps kick off a two-game road swing Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo. The Earthquakes host the Seattle Sounders the same night.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

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Liverpool ‘not good enough’ says Arne Slot after shock loss against Nottingham Forest

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2 days ago

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September 14, 2024

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MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.

A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.

“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.

“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”

Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.

But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.

Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.

United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.

Unstoppable Haaland

Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.

The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.

Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.

“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.

Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.

Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.

He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.

He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.

Rashford snaps run

Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.

Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.

Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.

Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.

“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.

De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.

It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.

Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.

Villa comeback

After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.

Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.

Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.

Late drama

Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.

Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.

But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.

Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.

West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.

Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.

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James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

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Cavaliers and free agent forward Isaac Okoro agree to 3-year, $38 million deal, AP source says

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2 days ago

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September 14, 2024

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CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.

ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.

The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.

The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.

Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.

His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.

Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.

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