Justin Thomas “speechless” after worst-ever major round

Safe to say Justin Thomas won’t be listing the second round of the 2023 US Open among his career highlights.

The two-time major champion laboured to an 11-over-par 81 on day two at Los Angeles Country Club – his worst-ever score in golf’s marquee events.

It left the 30-year-old on 14-over for the championship and above only three of the 155 other players who pegged it this week.

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The result extends Thomas’ wretched run of form, which has seen him toil in the game’s biggest events this year. A missed cut at the Masters was sandwiched between a T60 at The PLAYERS and a T65 in his US PGA defence.

But give the former world No.1 credit. Instead of swatting away reporters after his LA horror show, he took some questions, providing a revealing and candid window into how he’s feeling.

“It’s all pretty shitty when you shoot 14-over,” he told the Golf Channel.

“I was playing the best I’ve played in a really long time this week, so funny game, man. It can leave you speechless, both good and bad, and right now it’s unfortunate.

“Once I’m able to reflect and figure out what I can learn and get better from, it’ll end up good. But it sucks right now.”

The stats bear out the full extent of Thomas’ struggles.

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He hit only 11 of 26 fairways across the two days, found only half of his greens in regulations and, to compound his misery, needed a total of 64 putts.

It all added up to a third missed cut in nine starts for the Kentucky man.

“I’ll figure it out,” he added. “I have another major left [this year]. If I go win the British Open, nobody even remembers that I’ve missed the cut by a zillion here, so I’ve just got to find a way to get better and learn from this.

“If I can, I don’t have to look at this week as a total failure.”

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor