There are the stories.
Like the one from May. Justin Thomas shared it just after he had won the PGA Championship. The day before, Tiger Woods had to withdraw from the major due to his right leg issues, and Thomas said he texted him that night to check in.
“He just said he was feeling terrible because my name kept dropping on the leaderboard,” said Thomas, before smirking. “So I was like, ‘Thanks, good to talk to you, too, I’ll talk to you later.’”
Justin Thomas’ caddie has an intriguing wedge suggestion for St. Andrews
There are the videos, too. Like the one from late 2019. Thomas and Woods had each hit their tee shots at the Woods-hosted Hero World Challenge. Woods had outpopped Thomas, everyone knew it, but just to be sure, as they arrived to Thomas’ ball, Woods purposefully bent over to check that it was, in fact, not his ball, turned to JT, then laughed and kept walking ahead.
And so on and so on. You get the picture. The golf superstars are close. Woods often has referred to Thomas as a brother. And so tight are they that, well, we’ll let Thomas himself describe the dynamic.
“I think now I only have like 150 other things to do that he’s done to where he can stop giving me grief,” Thomas also said after his PGA win.
Which brings us to Sunday, St. Andrews and a practice round for this week’s Open Championship. And a 15-word dagger.
Toward the end of a fantastic 10-minute video from the Open — which can be seen here and also includes shots of all fashion, strategy talk and an errant Thomas tee shot — Woods and Thomas shake hands after the round. To give you some background first before the dunk that was on the way, Woods has won the Open three times, Thomas no times. And on Monday, the Open was to play a Celebration of Champions event, which, yes, celebrated champions.
And then …
“See you tomorrow for the past winners event,” Woods began.
Pause. Any good trash talk needs that.
“Oh, I forgot you’ve never won here.”
Tiger laughed.
Thomas swore, we think; he was bleeped out by the video.
Happy Open week!
