After present process a microdiscectomy to deal with a disc concern in his again and lacking 5 months of motion, Justin Thomas returned to aggressive golf this week, making his 2026 debut on the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The 32-year-old knew rust would possible be a part of the equation in his first match since September. However his struggles rapidly went from comprehensible to alarming.
Thomas’ opening spherical at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Membership & Lodge was tough sufficient — a 7-over 79 that included two double bogeys, six bogeys and three birdies. He ranked 68th (out of 72 gamers) in strokes gained off the tee and on strategy and misplaced 3.974 strokes placing to rank 71st within the discipline.
However Friday was even worse.
Thomas double-bogeyed the primary gap and added one other double at No. 9 to stumble to a 5-over 41 on the entrance 9. The spherical unraveled additional on the again aspect when his tee shot discovered the water on the par-4 eleventh, resulting in a triple bogey.
“Yeah, it was form of onerous to say it was good to be again out,” Thomas informed reporters after the opening spherical, per PGA Tour. “Not clearly how I anticipated it to go. However the rust facet form of, sadly, was somewhat little bit of what I anticipated.”
Thomas sits in final at 14-over par by means of early play Friday. Nobody else within the discipline was worse than +7 in the midst of the second spherical.
The 2-time main champion has hit simply 10 of 25 fairways, hit 14 of 31 greens and is averaging 1.93 putts per inexperienced in regulation. He’ll miss the lower in his 2026 debut, one thing he hasn’t finished for the reason that 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Nation Membership.
