Justin Thomas Is Softer Than Charmin
In case you weren’t paying attention to golf this weekend (understandable), this happened:
After hitting his tee shot on 16, Justin Thomas signaled for a fan to be ejected from the gallery for a “get in the bunker” cheer.
“Enjoy your day, buddy. You’re done.”
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) February 25, 2018
So, is Justin Thomas an asshole?
Yes.
Thomas sort of offered an apology yesterday over the course of four tweets. Sort of.
..and should not have had him kicked out. I feel bad for it, but was more doing so because again I felt the stuff he was saying was completely unnecessary. I love all my fans and to hear that I’ve lost quite a few bc of that, isn’t fun. So I’m sorry to all!
— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) February 26, 2018
Hey Justin, little pro tip, if you’re gonna half-ass an apology, don’t put the word “but” in there. You don’t feel bad, you wanted him gone. You disingenuous asshole.
The other part of his apology string that stuck out to me was how he repeatedly called the comments “unnecessary” or “inappropriate”.
…it was very understandable to have him escorted out. I never want to lose fans, or have people root against me. I just didn’t see a place for that particular person to be yelling at us things that weren’t necessary over and over again. I over reacted…
— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) February 26, 2018
The guy yelled “get in the bunker” when JT teed off. That’s the equivalent of a fan at a baseball game yelling “get in the dugout” after a pitcher gives up a homerun. For Thomas to be that easily rattled by something is perplexing. Just imagine Thomas warming up in the bullpen at Fenway Park while fans yell random, but shockingly insulting, Wikipedia insults at him. Would he even be able to go into the game? Doubtful.
Should the fan have said it? No probably not. Golf is all about etiquette and it’s the ultimate gentleman’s game. Spectators typically don’t behave like that, and that’s probably what rattled Thomas the most. But he wasn’t just surprised. He was genuinely bothered by this. Marshmellow soft.
So back to the original question, is Justin Thomas an asshole? The answer is still yes. He’s always been a bit of an over the top cocky dude, but maybe you have to be as a pro golfer. Jordan Spieth is the same way. So is Rory McIlroy. Tiger sure as hell was. But Thomas has entered rarefied air as a special kind of asshole. He’s a disingenuous, Charmin ultra soft, rattled by anything type of asshole.
Is Thomas the best golfer on the planet right now? Yes.
Is probably going to win the Masters in a few weeks? Also yes (get those future bets in now!)
I won’t say I’m rooting against JT, but I will say that it would be hilarious if he was heckled relentlessly at his next tournament. It won’t happen at Augusta because they only let in specific people. But at the next one, I hope people let him hear it.
-Brian Borders (@bborders12)