If there is something Justin Thomas has learned from slogging through his first two Masters, the time he has spent with a club in his hand here may not be as important as what he does with the time he does not.
More than any major championship, Augusta National reveals its secrets to the players who come to know it the best. Local Masters knowledge trumps all. Ask Fred Couples, who continues to contend here in his late 50s, fortified with the lessons of over 120 competition rounds.
Which is why Thomas, perhaps demurely but ceaselessly, keeps polling the elders -- Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, even Jeff Knox, the tournament's designated amateur marker when it needs to fill out a twosome -- about preferable targets and where the evil lurks.
How he employs such intelligence can go a long way to determining if he can actually compete here, which he has yet to demonstrate. But it could also deliver him the No. 1 world ranking come Sunday, not that there isn't already enough to play for.
“I pretty much would just watch (playing partners during practice rounds) where they were chipping and putting from,” Thomas said. “And then when they were done, I would just take my balls and I would go do the same stuff. They know what they're doing out there. So either they were messing with me and I just hit a lot of unproductive shots or, hopefully, I learned some stuff.”
The 82nd Masters has established its host of storylines. Woods is back after two years in the wilderness. Rory McIlroy is chasing the career Grand Slam. Jordan Spieth makes for drama here just by taking his clubs out of the trunk.
But Thomas, who turns 25 later this month, has his own sideshow. With a Masters win, he would add to a sensational 18-month run -- seven championships, his first major title (’17 PGA), PGA Player of the Year -- by assuming the top of the world rankings. He has already had a shot at this and it did not go well, losing to Bubba Watson in the semifinals of the WGC-Dell Match Play on March 24.
“(Being No. 1) is very important to me,” he said. “... And that's why I was a little upset with myself, that I kind of wrapped up in it last week, because I was playing my match to become No. 1 in the world instead of playing my match to win the tournament. And that's not very mature of me. That's not mentally strong. It's just unlike me.
“So that was frustrating. But it's a huge deal and when and if it's meant to be, and however long, that it will happen.”
He will need to find a better way around Augusta National. His two previous attempts -- T-39 in 2016, T-22 in 2017 -- left him 12-over par in eight accumulative rounds. Meanwhile, Spieth, a rival since they were 13-year-old juniors, put together 2-1-2 finishes on the same track. But Thomas quickly admits that winning his first major last August has left him with a better view of the objectives.
“If you know how to get around here, you don’t need to be on your AA game,” he said. “You just need to be smart and kind of pick your way around. So I think I’ve gotten better at that at any golf course. I know early in the week or I know when I’m starting my round if I’m not playing well, that when I have a 6-, 7- 8-iron in my hand, I probably shouldn't be trying to make birdie.
“So that’s unfortunately come with experience and some instances where I’ve made a lot of bogeys when I haven’t been playing well. So I think learning that in the past majors, the past Masters here, that you just kind of need to assess where your game is and then you kind of pick, maybe adjust your game plan a little bit, if that makes sense.”
It makes more sense as a player learns the nuances of this course and Thomas hardly the only player assembling a portfolio here. Of the current top 10-ranked players, Thomas is one of six in his 20s. Although Spieth, ranked No. 4, has more wins (11) and majors (3), as does No. 7 McIlroy (14 victories, three majors at age 28), Thomas has been a solid No. 2 for over a month.
Despite his last two Aprils in Augusta, does this make him one of the favorites this week?
Too smart to bite on that one, Thomas replied, “I’ll trust whatever Vegas says.”
Vegas pegs him at 11-1, right with Dustin Johnson, behind Watson (10-1) and McIlroy (91/2-1). Smart company.
