“That’s just stupid”: Justin Thomas’ father snaps back at ‘ridiculous’ reports of his relationship turning sour with ace golfer by Golf journalist

Justin Thomas made headlines Wednesday morning—and not exactly good ones. He had allegedly restricted his own father's duties as his swing coach. By afternoon, however, much had changed regarding this information, which Thomas' father called "ridiculous."

According to Sport Illustrated, renowned Golf Channel and NBC anchor and reporter Todd Lewis broke the news that Justin Thomas had reportedly fired his putting coach, John Graham, and had "kinda put his father (Mike) in the background."

This is what Todd Lewis said, according to Sport Ilustrated:

“He’s still working with his father Mike as his swing coach, but not as much right now. He’s kind of put his father a little in the background. They’ve worked it out together. JT wants to own his swing.”

Upon learning of these claims, Mike, Justin Thomas' father and swing coach, denied that anything had changed in his professional relationship with his son. "That's just stupid," Mr. Thomas (Senior) described it.

These were Mike Thomas' words to Golf Digest on the matter:

“You’re kidding. That’s just stupid. That’s what some people in the media do. It’s ridiculous. I just left Justin. We worked all morning. But, listen, if he did fire me, and it was for the better, then what’s the problem? I guess they have to have something to talk about.”

Mike Thomas has PGA Master Professional status and has worked as his son's coach for most of his career. The coach-player relationship between Mike and Justin Thomas dates back to the latter's junior days.

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What was the season like for Justin Thomas?

Justin Thomas did not have a 2022–23 season up to par for a player of his stature (winner of 15 PGA Tour tournaments, twice the PGA Championship).

He missed the cut in six of the 20 tournaments he played, and his best results were three Top 10s, including a fourth-place finish at the WM Phoenix Open.

However, his statistics show that he was well below expectations in almost every order of play. Justin Thomas was among the worst players on the circuit in both driving accuracy and putting average.

Although he managed to stay above the PGA Tour average in stroke gained: total (ranked 40th), this was due to his skills in playing around the green.

Both his long swing and his putting prevented him from achieving better results. Thomas had a driving accuracy of just 56% (ranked 138th), while his Green In Regulations (GIR) percentage was less than 65% (ranked 129th).

In terms of putting, his average was 1.772 (121st), and his total putting was also very high, 272.7 (152nd). Thomas was the 96th player who needed the most putts per round (28.94).

There is no doubt that Thomas needs to polish up his overall work to get back to stellar levels. However, that work apparently does not include changing the way he works with his father or coach.