No. 1, times two

DUBLIN, Ohio – It’s a statistical oddity that no FedExCup champion has ever repeated, and only Brandt Snedeker (2013) has even made it back to the TOUR Championship. Amongst FedExCup winners, Tiger Woods spent the most weeks at No. 1 the following year, with 26 in 2008, but his season ended abruptly with a leg injury after he won the U.S. Open. Now along comes Justin Thomas, who has spent the last 14 weeks in pole position in the FedExCup, second only to Woods for a successful encore season. What’s more, in his last start at THE PLAYERS Championship, Thomas finished T11 to also assume the position of No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. You’d have to say things are going pretty well. “I enjoyed it for a couple days when I had the two weeks off,â€� Thomas said of the No. 1 world ranking. “But after that it was over with.â€� Not that he didn’t stay up late after THE PLAYERS, waiting for the OWGR page to refresh so he could take a screen-grab when he finally saw his name above all others. Because, he said, “Why wouldn’t you?â€� As for the No. 1 spot in the FedExCup, Thomas, who finished T4 here last year, knows how precarious the top spot is, especially with so much of the season remaining. With nine of the 10 FedExCup champions in the Memorial field, and eight of the top 10 in the world in action here, the competition is fierce. Is repeating as FedExCup champ on his radar? Well, yes. But it’s early. “Yeah, I mean I would [like to repeat], it’s something I would like to do but there’s—I’m worried about hitting my tee shot on number 10 at the Memorial first,â€� Thomas said. “There’s a lot of golf shots and a lot of tournaments and a lot of things that are going to happen until Atlanta. “So I, yeah, it’s something that I, once I come down that back nine or the last couple holes come Sunday, I hope that I have a chance or I’m looking good to win,â€� added Thomas, one of five two-time winners on the PGA TOUR this season. “But like I said, there’s a lot of golf until then.â€� TOUR golfers are famously competitive, and Thomas is no different, so much so that he was keeping tabs on his alma mater Alabama as the Crimson Tide played for an NCAA team title against Oklahoma State on Wednesday. Playing in neighboring groups for the Wednesday pro-am at Muirfield Village, Thomas and OSU product Rickie Fowler gave each other the needle. Twice, Thomas absconded with one of Fowler’s golf balls and wrote on it: “Roll, Tide, Roll!â€� Thomas was once the No. 1 player in college, too, so he’s used to playing from ahead. It hasn’t phased him yet, and might not at all, but the Memorial will mark his first start as the top-ranked player in the world. So when former world No. 1 and 2016 FedExCup champ Rory McIlroy was asked about the pressure of being on top, he initially answered with tongue firmly in cheek and for the benefit of Thomas, who was seated in the back of the room. “I think it’s really hard to try and play as a world No. 1,â€� McIlroy said with a grin as Thomas watched the theater, awaiting his own press conference. “I think it’s really difficult,â€� McIlroy continued. “I mean, you got so much pressure on your shoulders. I mean, there’s a bullseye on your back, it’s just really tough.â€� McIlroy laughed, then turned serious. “No, look,â€� he said. “…The demands on your time are a little bit more, and as long as you don’t forget what got you to that point, and he—look, he’s great, he practices hard and he does all the right things, so he’s not going to forget that. But I can say you’ve just got to manage your time a little bit better and find the time to stay there.â€� So far, so good for Thomas, the No. 1 player in golf by any metric.

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