Justin Thomas says his game is “pretty average”: should punters avoid him at Memorial?
The American admits he’s struggled in 2021 and has swing issues ahead of this week’s showdown at Muirfield Village.
And yet, as an elite cast prepare to tee off at Jack Nicklaus' event in Ohio, JT is the player at the front of the betting with most doubts hanging over him.
Since his PLAYERS victory at TPC Sawgrass, Thomas has failed to crack the top 10 in six subsequent starts.
The American is firing on far less than full cylinders and, to his credit, he's honest enough to admit it. There's no sugarcoating of, what for him, are sub-standard results.
Thomas says play is average
A comparison with Thomas at his best
The stats behind the contrasting form
Strokes Gained Off The Tee: 1.816 v 0.794
Strokes Gained Approach: 3.556 v 3.301
Strokes Gained Around The Green: 1.616 v 0.662
Strokes Gained Tee To Green: 6.989 v 4.757
Strokes Gained Putting: 0.683 v -1.007
His driving isn't as good, he's not as sharp around the green and his already average putting figures have gone negative.
While his approach stats are also down, that's the one category which is still holding up quite well. As a result, Thomas is ranked 2nd only to Collin Morikawa on the season-long SG: Approach stats.
At early May's Valspar Championship, for example, Thomas nearly trebled his average recent Tee To Green numbers but his putting was horrid (-6.455), meaning he had to settle for tied 13th.
Do punters listen to Thomas and avoid betting on him?
Thomas has form figures of 18-2-MC-8-4 in his last five starts at this week's course, Muirfield Village, and he's a fan of the new renovations.
While there are plenty of words and numbers to suggest it won't be his week, it would be foolish to write him off at 16/1 (Paddy Power).