(Reuters) – Defending champion Justin Thomas is extra pleased about his afternoon tee time to start The Players Championship this week as it will allow him the opportunity to attend Tiger Woods’ Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Thomas has become close friends with Woods in recent years and is looking forward to being at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Wednesday when the 15-times major champion enters the Hall of Fame.
“What he’s done for the game … is just monumental. I don’t think I could even come close to putting it into words,” Thomas told reporters at TPC Sawgrass on Tuesday.
“He’s been a massive impact and influence on me, and I’m very happy that I got an afternoon tee time on Thursday so I can go watch him get inducted. That’s going to be pretty cool, a special night.”
World number eight Thomas tees off on Thursday at 12:56 p.m. ET (1756 GMT) alongside four-times major winner Rory McIlroy and British Open champion Collin Morikawa.
Thomas trailed by seven strokes after 36 holes last year at TPC Sawgrass but tied the tournament record with a 12-under 132 over the on the weekend to close out one of the biggest wins of his career.
The 14-times PGA Tour winner has taken two weeks off since finishing in sixth place at Riviera and feels his game is trending in the right direction as he seeks his first victory since his 2021 triumph at TPC Sawgrass.
“I just kind of haven’t gone on any of those runs the last three tournaments that I feel like I usually do in tournaments, and I think that was the difference of honestly not winning the tournaments and finishing where I did,” said Thomas.
“Just got to keep staying patient, keep working hard and
letting good thing happen.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
