Over the last year, Justin Thomas has recovered from a loss of form to re-establish himself as one of the world’s very best players, most recently with victory at the PGA Tour’s fifth signature event of the season, the RBC Heritage.
Three weeks on from that success, Thomas will play in the next signature event on the schedule, the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club. Before teeing it up at the venue, Thomas explained why one club he has relied on for a decade will not be leaving his bag anytime soon.
Thomas, who is a Titleist staffer, has often turned to the manufacturer’s 915Fd 5-wood to help him on his way to his huge successes, including 16 PGA Tour wins. That's despite newer fairways woods released during that time, with the 917 series, TS series, TSi series, TSR series and GT series. Asked if he would be looking to get a new fairway wood in the bag, he was adamant: “I'm not. I think there's definitely a reason it's been in there.”
But what does Thomas’ 5-wood of choice, which was released in 2014, offer that newer alternatives don’t? Thomas explained: “It doesn't necessarily have as much to do with not being able to hit the newer stuff well or like how it performs. It's more of just how it performs distance-wise is what I need.
“I've hit a couple of the latest 5-woods, like the last couple editions or launches, and they just go a little bit further than I would like in a 5-wood. It's just kind of a perfect club for me, I feel like. It's unique in the sense that I feel like I can hit it 230 yards if I need to, but I can hit it 265 in the air if I need to.”
Thomas also revealed he’s well stocked for heads for some time to come, adding: “If you get a good one, it's tough to replace. I have a handful of heads left and I definitely won't be giving anybody any of them to try any time soon.”
Thomas gave a recent example of when having the fairway wood helped him out – the Genesis Invitational. He explained: “I hit it from like 165 yards out of the rough at Torrey Pines this year. When it was raining, it was miserable, and I'm looking down in the rough, like I can't get an iron out of this, and I'm not going to hit a sand wedge and chip it out.
"Like I know I can just lay open this 5-wood, and I can kind of get it up around there, and I hit it to like 15 feet. I always joke that some people go 5-wood or 2-iron, and I'm like I definitely couldn't have done that with a 2-iron.”
This week, Thomas will be putting it to the test at the Truist Championship’s temporary home while regular venue Quail Hollow is prepared for the PGA Championship. The chance to play a new course is a challenge he’s looking forward to. He said: “It's really cool. I love these kinds of designs. They're fun. They obviously - there's bits and pieces that are very - they're very specific in terms of what the conditions give us.”
Whatever happens in Pennsylvania this week, Thomas’ attention will then turn to the Major, which he won for the first time at Quail Hollow in 2017. He admitted that another strong performance this week would set him up nicely for his tilt at a third PGA Championship title.
He added: “Obviously I do want to play well and want to give myself a chance to win, and at the same time, it is a chance to try to just kind of keep building a little bit more each and every day to get it to where we're playing well and feeling great about everything come next week as well.”
