Justin Thomas had everything going for him on Thursday. He drained plenty of putts, hit numerous approach shots inside six feet, and held the lead on the PGA Tour for the first time in over two years.
Then he came crashing back down to Earth on Friday.
The two-time PGA Championship winner posted a 2-over 72—10 strokes worse than his first-round score. He now trails leader Ludvig Åberg by six.
Thomas struggled in pretty much all facets of his game on Friday. He could not get into a groove, as evidenced by two early bogies during his first six holes. His first bogey came because he misjudged his second shot on the par-3 12th—in what should have been a routine up-and-down. Three holes later, at the challenging par-4 15th, Thomas made a mess of things, missing the fairway left and ultimately carded a five.
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Many other contenders passed Thomas by, soaring up the leaderboard while the 3-time Ryder Cup star went the opposite direction. But he did manage to bounce back to 8-under for the championship thanks to two birdies on the par-4 18th and par-5 3rd holes.
He seemed to have steadied his round on his second nine, plotting along with an even-par score for the day by the time he reached the 8th tee—his 17th hole of the day. But then he rifled his drive right, forcing him to re-load with his third shot off the tee. He consequently made a double-bogey six, dropping back to 6-under-par for the championship and well back of Åberg.
If he wants to get back into contention, he faces an uphill climb going into the weekend. But with the benign weather looking like it will deteriorate as the weekend wears on, anything can happen. Yet, Thomas will likely need others to stumble—as he did on Friday—to get back in the mix.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
