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By Andrew McCarty
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Justin Thomas sat atop the leaderboard at the PGA Championship six holes into his third round before it unraveled in an instant.
The star golfer recorded four straight bogeys and eventually finished with a two-over, 72 to put him at even par for the tournament – a full six shots off the lead heading into Sunday. The disastrous finish left a sour taste in his mount and lit a fire for his strong final round.
“I was pretty sour yesterday. I was pissed off, I mean, to be perfectly honest. I fought really hard to shoot the score that I did, and I felt it was the best I could shoot, but I just was – you know, I was upset and bummed I didn't play better," he said.
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He said he practiced a lot longer than he normally would have in a situation like that, but he couldn't leave the golf course in the frame of mind he was in.
“I felt like it was more of a fire I was leaving with, and it was pissed off, but like a good pissed off, kind of one I wanted to bring with me today and kind of play with," he said before firing a five-under, 65 to sit as the leader in the clubhouse until Jon Rahm finished at six-under.
Thomas had a tumultuous start to the 2026 season when he dead last at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before a top-8 finish at the Players Championship just one week later.
The highs and lows of the season continued as he finished in a tie for 41st at the Masters while never being in contention. Heading into the year's second major, though, Thomas rounded into form with a t-23 at the Cadillac Championship and then a 13th place finish at the Truist Championship the week before the PGA Championship.
Now he has a top-five in a major for the first time since winning the PGA Championship in 2022.
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