Some Players Take The Blame For Mistakes, Some Get Gusted

The memorable 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions featuring a playoff and eventual win by Justin Thomas will go down as one of the more memorable PGA Tour events in some time. The combination of elite players, Kapalua’s finishing holes regaining some of their danger and a nice dose of wind set up a wild conclusion.

Of course, none of it happens without Justin Thomas bungling the 18th in regulation, carding a six after a weak tee shot and poor decision to hit 3 wood. Plenty of factors threatened to stop Thomas from hitting a quality shot, as Luke Kerr-Dineen noted here for Golf.com.

And then there was Justin’s thinking.

Thanks to Jeremy Schilling from highlighting this answer in Thomas’ post round press conversation:

Q. Two things on 18 in regulation, a nice moment to reflect on. On the second shot you had, did you hit a bad shot or was it a bad lie?

JUSTIN THOMAS: It was a really bad lie. It was the wrong club. I should have hit a 5-wood. It just -- I had no chance to get it to the green. The only good thing about a 3-wood was that it was going to cover more if I slightly pulled it, not hit it as far left as I did. But I mean, as steep as -- the thing is the farther down you get it, the flatter it is. I hit that drive so bad and so far off the toe that I didn't get it far enough down to be flat. It just was -- with a one-shot lead that was so stupid. I would have been better off hitting a 6-iron than a 3-wood. It doesn't make sense.

If I just would have made 4 there I would have won the tournament in regulation. Obviously if I made 5 I would have, but standing on 18 tee, I'm like, we make 4 we're probably going to win this thing, and boy, I botched it up pretty badly.

In an era of “we” making a bad call or “we” hitting a bad shot, Thomas’s comments will endear him to golf fans.

Contrast that with those who got “gusted.”

Unbeknownst to many, this is a thing.

Patrick Reed wheeled out the term for his missed playoff putts during a post round interview, not long after Xander Schauffele used the term.

From Dylan Dethier’s noble attempt to respectfully consider the act of being gusted.

“Unfortunately I had two putts really to close it, and one of them I got gusted on, and then this last one with the wind and the break, just got me again,” Reed said. There it is again: “gusted.” (Remember to save this phrase for your weekend game!) He expanded on the point, describing his birdie try on playoff hole No. 2. “The wind picked up right when we hit it and it made the ball stay straighter because it was more downwind and it actually didn’t break at all,” he said.

Certainly wind can affect a putt, but as I recall watching the putts live, they appeared off pretty early on. Maybe that’s where the gusting too place. Or maybe former tour player Chris DiMarco likely summed up the feelings of most in a Tweet that now sleeps with the fishes, notes GolfWRX’s Gianni Magliocco.