Tiger has a shot at the Masters, and that’s all he needs

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Justin Thomas considers it possible to win "eight, nine, 10, 11 times in a season." The 27-year-old is fresh off a three-win PGA TOUR campaign and has started this new season strongly by finishing in the top 12 in all four of his starts. Thomas also knows that to reach his full potential, all facets of his game must be maximized. To that end, he has pursued putting improvement with coach John Graham - the two connected this summer via a mutual friend, then formalized their relationship at the U.S. Open in September. The previous two seasons saw Thomas rank No. 144 and No. 112 in Strokes Gained: Putting - while finishing third and second in the FedExCup, respectively. Through the early portion of 2020-21, Thomas has seen an improvement to No. 37 in the TOUR's preeminent putting statistic. He’s gaining three-quarters of a stroke per round on the greens after losing strokes in each of the last two seasons. If the Thomas-Graham partnership continues to bear fruit, the sky could be the limit. "You can always make more putts, but I've been consistently better in making more putts," Thomas said in his pre-tournament press conference at this week's Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN. "And my bad putting days have been better. "What I like about John is, same as myself, he's never satisfied. We're still working on trying to get better, and figure out what we can do to get ready to start the year next year." To that end, Graham flew last weekend from his home in western New York to spend a day with Thomas at The Bear's Club in south Florida, before Thomas flew to Mexico. The duo also spent two days walking Winged Foot before the U.S. Open - "walking the course, visualizing, working through certain hole locations and putts from certain places," Graham said. Thomas posted the best U.S. Open finish of his career (T8) and is coming off a career-best T4 at the recent Masters Tournament. The essence of the Thomas-Graham partnership: identifying and preparing for on-course situations. "It's very situation-specific ... how do I address making this particular putt with this surface, and this ball position?" Graham said. "A lot of the stuff we have to do is on the course or the putting green; how do we tackle this particular problem? "Him getting different solutions to potential problems, is all he really needed. On the course is where the shot-making can really happen, both regular shots and, in my opinion, putts, so that's where we want to spend our time." With the help of longtime putting coach Matt Killen, Thomas saw marked improvements in setup, stroke and fundamentals. The mechanics were rock-solid. After finishing back-to-back seasons with negative Strokes Gained: Putting, though, Thomas wanted to explore new ideas in the ‘feel' area of his work around the greens. Thomas reached out to Graham, and they spent a day together prior to the Workday Charity Open in July. He proceeded to finish runner-up at Muirfield Village, averaging .78 strokes gained: putting, and the relationship built from there. "Everybody's great is great, and good is really good, but it's, ‘How good is your bad?' and that's something I struggled with," said Thomas of putting performance in recent years. "We couldn't figure out why or what it was. "I told Matt, ‘Hey, I'm going to go see John.' I wanted to see him in an off-week and hear something else and see if he could help us. Matt did such a good job of getting me in a good place to make a good, consistent stroke. My setup has gotten so much better, my stroke has gotten so much better, my fundamentals have gotten so much better. "But a lot of other aspects of it ... the green reading, the speed, understanding what makes putts do a certain thing ... I hadn't really incorporated into my putting. And that's what John has really helped me with." Graham describes the fundamental question of the duo's work together as, "How do we make more putts?" The veteran putting instructor believes the stroke is the least critical factor in mitigating a putting issue. Extraordinary putters separate themselves through other areas. Thomas and Graham haven't done much mechanical stroke work. They've focused on green-reading, controlling distance and being more specific with it. "I think one of his biggest hang-ups was that he felt like mechanics was the way to solve the problem of making more putts," said Graham, who describes Thomas as a natural feel player. "He would be very feel-oriented with his golf swing and shaping shots, and creating pictures and ideas, and then with his putting stroke, he would lean more on, ‘Well, I have to do it just right. I have to set up just right. I have to choose exactly the right speed.' It seemed like it was being a little bit confining. "There are multiple answers that can make a putt go in, whether it's firm speed with a lower line, or a softer speed with a higher line, and the player gets a say in this ... It's been freeing him up that way to visualize it more as shot-making, as opposed to just roll the ball down this line and hope it goes in." Combining strong mechanics and feel concepts, Thomas believes his best putting days - and golf days - are yet to come. "I feel like I am very close to reeling off a couple (wins) or having a great year," Thomas said. "But I also understand that this game doesn't just give you trophies because you're close. You have to earn it."

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Check out the entire field and how they qualified for the 2018 John Deere Classic. HOW THEY QUALIFIED Winner – The Players Championship Si Woo Kim Winner – British Open Zach Johnson Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial Matt Every Bryson DeChambeau David Lingmerth William McGirt Tournament Winner in Past Two Seasons Aaron Baddeley Wesley Bryan Austin Cook Brice Garnett FabiaÌ�n GoÌ�mez Cody Gribble Mackenzie Hughes Billy Hurley III Chris Kirk Patton Kizzire Andrew Landry Peter Malnati Francesco Molinari Ryan Moore Scott Piercy D.A. Points Brandt Snedeker Kyle Stanley Chris Stroud Brian Stuard Hudson Swafford Vaughn Taylor Aaron Wise Sponsors Exemptions – Web.com Tour Finals Dru Love Dylan Meyer Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Jason Bohn Carl Pettersson Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Broc Everett Doug Ghim Nick Hardy Norman Xiong PGA Club Professional Champion Omar Uresti PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Chad Proehl Life Member Davis Love III Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedEx Cup Points List Bill Haas Chez Reavie Scott Brown Sung Kang Sean O’Hair Robert Streb Kevin Tway Danny Lee Kelly Kraft Patrick Rodgers Chad Campbell Kevin Streelman Cheng Tsung Pan Whee Kim Harold Varner III Nick Taylor Michael Kim Scott Stallings Martin Flores Richy Werenski Ryan Blaum Robert Garrigus Brian Gay Steve Stricker Derek Fathauer Tyrone Van Aswegen Harris English Dominic Bozzelli Nick Watney John Huh Blayne Barber Rory Sabbatini J.J. Henry Major Medical Extension Ryan Palmer Michael Thompson John Senden Jon Curran Chris Couch Steve Marino Leading Money Winner from Web.com Tour & Web.com Tour Finals Chesson Hadley Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season Andrew Putnam Keith Mitchell Brandon Harkins Alex Cejka Martin Piller Abraham Ancer Corey Conners Tyler Duncan Seamus Power Talor Gooch Nicholas Lindheim Troy Merritt Sam Saunders Joel Dahmen Ben Silverman Denny McCarthy Tom Lovelady Adam Schenk Shawn Stefani Xinjun Zhang Sam Ryder Bronson Burgoon Jonathan Randolph Matt Jones Rob Oppenheim Stephan Jaeger Ethan Tracy Roberto DiÌ�az Jonathan Byrd Lanto Griffin Cameron Tringale Brett Stegmaier Conrad Shindler Matt Atkins Steve Wheatcroft Zecheng Dou Andrew Yun Kyle Thompson Kris Blanks Will Claxton Will MacKenzie David Berganio, Jr. 126 – 150 Prior Season’s FEC Points List Trey Mullinax J.T. Poston Ben Crane Johnson Wagner David Hearn Zac Blair Cameron Percy Ricky Barnes Daniel Summerhays Rick Lamb Reorder Category – Cat. 34 thru 38 Joaquin Niemann Hunter Mahan Tim Herron Stuart Appleby Brendon de Jonge Parker McLachlin George McNeill Eric Axley Troy Matteson Tommy Gainey Ken Duke John Merrick Brian Davis Dicky Pride Daniel Chopra Mark Wilson Robert Allenby D.J. Trahan Charlie Beljan John Rollins

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Earlier this month, Gilberto Morales’ phone buzzed around 4 a.m. The message contained the latest reminder of his improbable victory almost three decades ago. A friend sent Morales a screenshot of a tweet that came out shortly after Tiger Woods announced his intention to play this year’s Farmers Insurance Open. The post mentioned Morales as the author of the aberration on Woods’ impeccable resume at Torrey Pines. Woods has won eight times at the South Course, tying his own record for PGA TOUR wins at a single site. That includes that memorable U.S. Open playoff in 2008. RELATED: Tiger chasing No. 83 at Torrey Pines When healthy, Woods is seemingly unbeatable on the South Course. And he’s proven to be the greatest closer in the game’s history. As a professional, Woods is undefeated with a 54-hole lead of three or more strokes. He’s 25 for 25 in that situation. That makes the idea of Tiger Woods losing a five-shot lead at Torrey Pines seem unfathomable. But it happened at the 1992 Junior World Championship. Morales said he still hears about the win at least once a year. “My kids think they have a famous dad,â€� Morales joked Tuesday. He now has three children (his oldest is 10) and is an entrepreneur living in Spain. Morales was one of the top junior players on the planet in 1992. Each summer, he’d fly from his home in Venezuela to play tournaments in the United States. The Junior World was one of the biggest events on the calendar. Woods had already won the tournament an unprecedented six times in various age brackets. So when he took a five-shot lead into the final round, a seventh title seemed like a certainty. Except in golf, nothing is guaranteed. Even for Woods. Even at Torrey Pines. Woods shot 75 that day, including a triple-bogey at the seventh hole, and Morales won by three with a final-round 67. It was the best round of the tournament. Morales was 15 years old. “He had a couple bad holes and I had a good start,â€� Morales said Tuesday. “After that, he wasn’t able to recover from the mistakes and I was having a very good day.â€� With Woods chasing history at Torrey Pines this week – a victory would give him the PGA TOUR’s all-time wins record – I was curious to see what happened to Morales. Details of his career are sparse. He played in the 1999 Open Championship, shooting 80-76 during that infamous week when Carnoustie was impossible. He competed on the Asian, European and Challenge tours. Morales wanted to travel the world, not play mini-tours, after his college career at UNLV, where his teammates included PGA TOUR winners Charley Hoffman, Chad Campbell, Chris Riley and Bill Lunde. The Official World Golf Ranking’s site shows Morales made 50 starts between 1999 and 2005. His best finish was third in 2000 Indian Open. He tied Trevor Immelman, who’d win the Masters eight years later, that week. That was Morales’ only top-10. There’s also a brief mention of Morales in a story about Woods’ first start after his emotional win in the 2006 Open Championship. After trying to Monday qualify for a nearby Korn Ferry Tour event, Morales headed to the Buick Open to see his old friend. Woods hugged Morales and spent 15 minutes reminiscing with him between shots in his practice round. That was toward the end of Morales’ pro career. He retired after failing to have the success his junior results may have portended. “I don’t know what happened,â€� Morales said Tuesday. “It was a lot of travel. I got very tired of the travel. I was 29 or 30 and I wanted to have a family and didn’t want time to go by. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I just took a different route. I still have all the best memories from all my years playing golf.â€� The 1992 Junior World wasn’t the only time Woods and Morales went head-to-head. Later that year, they shared the 54-hole lead of the Junior Orange Bowl with Zimbabwe’s Lewis Chitengwa. Chitengwa, who died at age 26 of meningitis, won after Woods and Morales shot over par in the final round. Woods and Morales were in contention again at the following year’s Junior World. They entered the final round tied for third place, three shots behind leader Chad Wright. Morales shot 70 to finish second, while Woods fired another final-round 75 to fall to fourth place. The winner? Future PGA TOUR winner Pat Perez. Morales relishes the time he spent with Woods. “He was No. 1 and I was right there in the top three (as a junior),â€� Morales said Tuesday. “We had a lot of fun. We practiced together, played practice rounds. He was so different than the other kids. He had a different focus and different mindset than everybody else. He wasn’t playing. It was amazing to see someone who had that discipline at that age.â€� So how did Morales prevail on that day in 1992? The trouble started at the seventh hole, where Woods made triple-bogey after hitting a shot out-of-bounds. Woods downplayed the significance of the miscue, though. “It was really no problem,â€� he said at the time. “I still had a two-stroke lead.â€� Morales birdied the next hole to pull within a stroke. Woods bogeyed the par-5 ninth, and bent the shaft of his 7-iron after striking a tree on his follow-through, to fall into a tie with Morales. “I said, ‘Break the 7-iron, hurt my wrist or whatever; I’m just going to play the shot,’â€� Woods told reporters. “(After that), I tried not to hit a shot where I would need a 7-iron. And I didn’t need to. I was very lucky.â€� Morales took the lead for good with a birdie two holes later. Woods had his chances to catch Morales. Woods lipped out a 17-foot birdie putt on 14 that would have tied him for the lead. Woods suffered another lip-out on the next hole, the ball spinning almost 360 degrees around the cup. “Come on,â€� he yelled in disgust. Woods’ 25-foot birdie putt on 16 stopped 2 inches short. Morales’ 12-foot birdie putt nearly stopped in front of the cup before trickling in. Woods trailed by two on the final hole. He had just 185 yards remaining for his second shot to the same par-5 where he holed his famous bouncing birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open. There would be no magic this day, though. Woods’  6-iron flew the green and bounded by the first tee, some 30 yards over the green. “I guess the golfing gods weren’t with me,â€� Woods told reporters. He’s had plenty of success at Torrey Pines since.

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