By. John K. Abendroth, PGA
In today's world of professional golf we hear the word "Team" often and Justin Thomas had a great team to help him win the PGA.
J.T.'s Father is a PGA member as was his Grandfather. Mike Thomas walks every step of the way with Justin Thomas and is his long time golf instructor/coach.
Now let's look at his mentor Tiger Woods. The Woods family and the Thomas family have become very close the past few years. Tiger told Justin he needed to work on adapting his ball flight and work on shaping his golf shots more. Justin has worked on this info from Tiger and I'm convinced this is a very big reason Thomas would pull off the Major win coming from 7 shots behind in the final round.
As what I feel is a curious irony, Jim "Bones" Mackay caddied for Thomas this week in the PGA that his former boss Phil Mickelson elected not to defend. Thomas commented after the round that MacKay did a great job keeping him in the correct focus for round as well as a pep talk on the range prior to the final round.
Bones and Phil separated in 2017 with Bones going to work for NBC/Golf Channel as an on-course broadcaster. In the fall of 2021 Justin Thomas hired Bones to caddy for him. This could open up a window of dominance for Justin Thomas.
So when you hear of players talk about a team consider the value of Team Thomas...Dad, Tiger and Bones could qualify as a Hall of Fame Team.