ORLANDO – After Justin Thomas and his father Mike won the PNC Championship last year, they wore the champion’s belts from the two-person best-ball event around their waists when they went over for Christmas dinner at Tiger Woods’s house. It was the ultimate flex.
“We enjoyed that,” said Justin Thomas of beating Tiger and his son, who finished tied for seventh in their tournament debut. “Until they get that belt and we don’t, I know that we have the forever bragging rights for the time being.”
This year, the Thomases are delighted that they will be paired again with Tiger and Charlie Woods in the first round of the 36-hole tournament on Saturday at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club as they attempt to become the fourth duo to successfully defend. Tiger announced last week that he would compete with his 12-year-old son for the first time since this event a year ago. That appeared to be the longest of longshots after Tiger was involved in a single-car accident in Los Angeles on February 23 and was hospitalized with a myriad of injuries, including fractures to both the tibia and fibula in his right leg.
“My excitement level is high just for him being out here and being somewhere other than his house and getting to see a lot of familiar faces. And I know spending time with Charlie is a huge deal to him. So, I know he’s excited for that part,” Justin Thomas said. “In terms of the competing, I think his expectations are very low. But at the same time, he is who he is for a reason, so I’m sure he’ll be pissed off if he didn’t play well.”
While the star-studded field is loaded with Hall of Famers such as Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson, all eyes will be on Team Woods – to see how much improvement Charlie has made since he stole the show with his impressive performance a year ago, but primarily to see how Tiger is able to get around the course – competitors are allowed to use carts – and how the swing of the 15-time major champion looks. Count Mike Thomas, a longtime PGA professional who has provided Tiger a second set of eyes to the development of Charlie’s game, among those who say Tiger’s game is ahead of schedule.
“I played with him last week a couple days,” Mike Thomas said. “It’s crazy how good he’s hitting it and far he’s hitting for what he’s been through.
“He’s still – he’s got some speed. He’s got some length. Hits a lot of really, really flush shots. I mean, I was surprised.”
Nelly Korda, the top-ranked woman in the world, is playing in the event for the first time with her father, Petr, a former professional tennis player and winner of the 1998 Australian Open. But she couldn’t stop gushing about being in the same tournament as Tiger.
“Playing right in front of Tiger Woods is pretty cool too. I’m not going to lie,” she said. “I’m being a little selfish here, but that’s pretty cool.”
When Petr noted that it’s a great honor for a woman to compete in the same event that over the years has featured Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Trevino “and other guys,” his daughter interjected, “Tiger Woods,” and rolled her eyes as if she couldn’t believe her father could leave out the most dominant golfer of the last thirty years.
“Yes,” Petr said, “Obviously I wanted to finish with, you know, the cherry on the top of the cake having Mr. Woods here.”
Justin Thomas has become one of Tiger’s closest confidantes and one of the Tour pros who visited Tiger regularly when he was able to return to his Florida home and began rehab. Even he expressed surprise that Tiger had made it back to compete so soon.
“I’m sure some days he’s like, ‘Oh, wow, I can do this,’ and there’s some days where it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m not really sure.’ But it is, it’s very impressive and unbelievable,” Justin Thomas said. “But I know that he somewhere deep down in there had this circled on the calendar of wanting to come back here.”