Justin Thomas had all the things going for him on Thursday. He drained loads of putts, hit quite a few strategy pictures inside six toes, and held the lead on the PGA Tour for the primary time in over two years.
Then he got here crashing again right down to Earth on Friday.
The 2-time PGA Championship winner posted a 2-over 72—10 strokes worse than his first-round rating. He now trails chief Ludvig Åberg by six.
Thomas struggled in just about all sides of his recreation on Friday. He couldn’t get right into a groove, as evidenced by two early bogies throughout his first six holes. His first bogey got here as a result of he misjudged his second shot on the par-3 twelfth—in what ought to have been a routine up-and-down. Three holes later, on the difficult par-4 fifteenth, Thomas made a large number of issues, lacking the golf green left and finally carded a 5.
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Many different contenders handed Thomas by, hovering up the leaderboard whereas the 3-time Ryder Cup star went the wrong way. However he did handle to bounce again to 8-under for the championship thanks to 2 birdies on the par-4 18th and par-5 third holes.
He appeared to have steadied his spherical on his second 9, plotting together with an even-par rating for the day by the point he reached the eighth tee—his seventeenth gap of the day. However then he rifled his drive proper, forcing him to re-load along with his third shot off the tee. He consequently made a double-bogey six, dropping again to 6-under-par for the championship and properly again of Åberg.
If he needs to get again into rivalry, he faces an uphill climb going into the weekend. However with the benign climate wanting like it’s going to deteriorate because the weekend wears on, something can occur. But, Thomas will probably want others to stumble—as he did on Friday—to get again within the combine.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
