ATLANTA — In an event with an unusually staggered start, the subject of shots was brought up frequently at pre-tournament news conferences. Scottie Scheffler said he’s allowing more shots to his buddies during his historic season than ever before, and Xander Schauffele said he doesn’t give his friends any shots. Ouch. But no one gave a better answer than Justin Thomas.
First, the 15-time PGA Tour winner said he doesn’t have an official handicap at his home course, but is used to dropping a stroke or two occasionally.
“Probably depends on how much money we’re playing for,” Thomas said. “Obviously you want to win the bet on the first tee. There are a couple of guys who aren’t pros and we’ve figured out a little bit what strokes are… But it’s really just a guessing game. I think we always make some kind of adjustment on the turn so that if the match is 2-up or more on both sides, we adjust accordingly on the back nine. But it’s really just a guess.”
Seems fair enough. But then JT was asked about pros throwing punches at other pros. And that’s a line he is NOT willing to cross. In fact, he made it seem like that was the surest way to upset another tour pro.
“I think it would be pretty – I don’t want to say disrespectful, but I’d be pretty mad if Scottie and I were playing a practice round and he asked if he wanted to take a shot on those nine holes,” Thomas said, laughing. “It would be like me saying what I think of myself and what he thinks of me.”
That makes sense. But it also seems like a good way to get into the minds of your opponents.
Be that as it may, it’s Thomas, who is ranked 30th in the FedEx Cup standings, who gives Scottie a full 10 chances this week at East Lake. And in this case, with a first-place finish and $25 million at stake, Scottie certainly isn’t complaining about the lead.
