Tape job on arm helps Justin Thomas bounce back

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Justin Thomas still hasn’t fully recovered from the dead-arm sensation he suffered two days ago, but his game looked in better shape Saturday during the third round of The Honda Classic. Thomas, the defending champion, shot a 3-under 67, his best round of the week, and moved to 1 under through 54 holes. Depending on what the leaders do Saturday afternoon, that might leave him in striking distance entering the final round. What didn’t look so good was his right arm, covered by a strip of black Kinesiology tape from his hand to his elbow. “The more tape you can have on it, the better – although I don’t look that great,â€� Thomas said. “It felt fine. Just the shoulder is a little bit sore, but that helped it out.â€� Thomas injured his arm when his 9-iron struck a tree on an approach shot midway in Thursday’s opening round. He described it as a dead-arm sensation, saying it felt like he had been punched in the arm. Thomas shot a 4-over 74 on Friday and made the cut on the number. He has been receiving treatment the last two days “pretty much up my whole arm,â€� he said. He told his Saturday playing partner – and former University of Alabama teammate — Trey Mullinax that he was worried about his arm so much that it helped take his mind off golf. “Coincidentally, I played pretty well,â€� Thomas said. Asked after his round Saturday if he was still dealing with the dead arm, Thomas replied, “It’s off and on. It just gets in random places that it hurts.â€� With the start of the Florida Swing and a busy schedule of championship events looming – THE PLAYERS Championship is in two weeks, followed by a major in every month through July – Thomas can ill afford to have the injury linger. He didn’t rule out the possibility of withdrawing, acknowledging there were times the last two days that he thought about it. “If it hurts, if I have the potential to injure myself further or I’m going to hurt myself as the season goes on – it doesn’t matter the position you’re in, I would have to withdraw,â€� he said. “I’ve never done that before. I would hate to have to do that, especially at a place like this where you can go shoot 5- or 6-under and jump a lot of people. That’s just not my nature to quit. “But that being said, my health is always going to come first.â€� Asked if he’s worried that the injury might get worse, Thomas replied: “Everything can always get worse, so I’m sure it can. I just hope it doesn’t.â€�

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