Justin Thomas has revealed that a putting session with Ryder Cup team-mate Xander Schauffele helped him end his 1,064-day winless run on the PGA Tour at the RBC Heritage.
Thomas claimed his first PGA Tour title since the 2022 PGA Championship with a dramatic play-off victory over Andrew Novak at Harbour Town Golf Links, birdieing the first extra play-off hole after both players finished on 17 under.
The two-time major champion has struggled in recent seasons on the greens, finishing outside the top 130 in strokes gained putting in each of the previous two years, before showing signs of progress during the start of the 2025 campaign.
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Image: Justin Thomas carded rounds of 61, 69, 69 and 68 before claiming play-off victory at Harbour Town Golf Links
Thomas already had runner-up finishes at the American Express and Valspar Championship among four top-10s before his win, with the former world No 1 crediting the support of Schauffele for his significant putting improvement.
“I called Xander [Schauffele] at the end of last year because I think he’s one of the best putters in fundamentals – and not just putting, but everything,” Thomas explained. “I was just like, ‘can I just pick your brain for like two or three hours, just talk to you about putting?’.
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Justin Thomas claimed a dramatic play-off victory against Andrew Novak at the RBC Heritage, after sinking an impressive putt on the first extra hole
“He came out with me and he just was asking me a bunch of different questions. You guys obviously know Xander – he doesn’t leave any box unchecked. He said that day, he’s like, ‘if it has anything to do with you potentially improving in golf, I’ve probably done it or tried it’.
“I just was talking to him about this process and how he reads greens and how he sees things and his practice and everything. Honestly was just being with him and he would kind of ask something and I was like ‘yeah, I used to do that’.
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“Then he was like, ‘well, how about something like this?’. The more I was talking, I’m like, ‘I don’t do any of the things that I used to do in my best putting years’. In 2017-18, I was very, very regimented of the things that I did, and how he said it is I had a home base and I now had no home base.
“I had things that I did, but it was a very vague bag of things and there was no consistency to it. I feel like I used to have a very good home base of fundamentals and things that I did.
“While he helped, it was more the questions he asked me made me realise that I’m trying basically too hard and I’m trying too many different things.
“I think it’s a serious, serious, serious skill to continue to work on the things that you do really well and not doing it differently, and I think that’s been more of what it is. I have my fundamentals and things that I do and checkpoints, and I’m sticking to them.”
Thomas dropped outside the world’s top 30 during his winless slump and also failed to secure a spot in Team USA’s Presidents Cup side last September, but a strong start to the season sees him second behind Rory McIlroy in the FedExCup standings.
“I think the hard part about it is it’s just really hard to win,” Thomas added. “I feel like I’ve been playing well enough to win for a couple years, but just because you feel that way and you are, obviously that doesn’t mean that you’re going to.
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The best of the action from the final round of the 2022 PGA Championship, where Justin Thomas snatched a second major title
“I feel like I was putting more pressure on myself even last year to win than I was this year, and I just feel like my game is in such a better place and in a good spot.
“I’m just really trying as hard as I can to get myself in a place mentally of just trusting and playing and just committing to what I’m doing. Having the belief that it’s going to be good enough the more often I get myself there. I’ve done that a couple times this year and haven’t been able to close it out.
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“Obviously careers are so long and there’s so much up and down and lots going on that you never know what point of your career you’re at until it’s over. I felt like it [winning] was the last thing that I needed to do for my own well-being.”
What’s next?
The PGA Tour team heads to TPC Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry return as defending champions. Watch early coverage live on Thursday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports Golf ahead of full coverage from 8pm. Get Sky Sports or stream with NOW.
