Eager to defend his PGA Championship, Justin Thomas is at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Thomas won last year’s PGA at Southern Hills in Tulsa after shooting a final-round 67 to erase a seven-shot deficit. He topped Will Zalatoris in a three-hole playoff after the two were tied at 5 under par.
Thomas is making his first ever visit to Oak Hill this week and started his preparations with a practice round alongside world No. 6 Max Homa. The two players, who share regular, light-hearted jabs at each other on social media, have been trending in different directions in recent months.
Homa won the Farmers Insurance Open in January and recorded a runner-up finish at his hometown event, The Genesis Invitational, two weeks later. Meanwhile, Thomas has found himself outside of Sunday contention more often than he would like.
Monday's practice round may have come with some additional education for Thomas as he recently implemented the AimPoint putting system into his game. Homa, a fellow user of the methodical AimPoint process, is ranked 10th in strokes gained putting on the PGA TOUR — a stark contrast to Thomas' 138th ranking.
Both players will be looking for a hot start this week as Thomas seeks to repeat, while Homa continues to chase his first career major victory.
