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Quickly adjusting to TPC Harding Park, Justin Thomas ready for quest to claim back-to-back wins

Justin Thomas now has 13 career PGA Tour titles under his belt, thanks to last week’s win in Memphis.

The 27-year-old, however, is still looking for his second major championship win.

While his game is perhaps as good as it’s ever been — Thomas has now won three times already this season, has four top-10 finishes since play resumed in June and has reclaimed the No. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings — backing up last week’s win with another at the PGA Championship isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“It’s hard enough to win one week in a row out here, let alone two,” Thomas said Tuesday. “But at the end of the day, last week is over with. This is a new week. We have a new field, new guys that are out here, all trying hard, trying to win a tournament, trying to win a major, and I’m trying to do the same thing.

“What happened last week is something I feel like I can only use to my advantage as opposed to hurt me, or at least I’m hoping so.”

Thomas hasn’t seen TPC Harding Park before

Thomas didn’t get much time to celebrate following his win at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, either.

He had to hop right on a plane and head to San Francisco in order to get out on TPC Harding Park on Monday.

Thomas has never played the course before.

“I’ve played well in the past coming off of a tournament or coming off of a win,” Thomas said. “But this is a little bit different because usually ... the week after winning if I’ve gone to a tournament I’ve known the course or I’ve played it before where I’m not out here on a Monday for sure, let alone a Monday playing a practice round because I’ve never been here.”

Thomas will tee off with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy for the first two rounds starting on Thursday, a group full of previous PGA Championship winners that is sure to have all eyes on it for the first major championship of the year.

While he now has the top ranking in the world, Thomas said he’s putting that honor to the back of his mind. It’s not about proving his worth atop the list or growing his lead, but simply rather executing.

“My game is in a good place, obviously, and I feel really good about everything,” Thomas said. “My body feels good. I’ve been doing a lot of trending the right way in a lot of directions that we’ve been trying to. At the end of the day, I just need to execute once I get out on the golf course and tee it up on Thursday.”

Justin Thomas walks on the course.
Justin Thomas looks on from the 15th green during a practice round prior to the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on Tuesday in San Francisco, California. (Christian Petersen/PGA of America/Getty Images)

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