In Round 1 of the Hero World Challenge, Justin Thomas viewed the course differently than he had ever seen it before, and it showed on his scorecard.
Thomas scored a 5-under 67 to finish one shot behind the leaders in a three-way tie, and that could be due to a particular operation that he finally had time to get done.
The 28-year-old had LASIK surgery just over a week ago, which is why the 14-time Tour winner, who usually wears contacts, was wearing sunglasses in the Bahamas sun on Thursday — a rare occurrence for him.
“I’d been wanting to do [LASIK] for a long time and it finally worked out with my schedule,” Thomas said. “That is why I continue to stroll around with my sunglasses on. I don’t wear them too often since I’m just trying to protect my eyes. Yes, it was good to finish that a week and a half ago and put it to the test this week.”
Thomas went on to say that his eyes are “awful,” but that his game isn’t. With the exception of a blunder off the tee on No. 18 that ended in a double-bogey and dropped him out of the lead, the defending Players champion breezed through his “test” on Thursday.
“Obviously, it was a horrible ending,” Thomas remarked, “but I mean, I played well.” “It started off well and then sort of slowed down in the middle, but I hit a lot of really, really fantastic putts that didn’t go in or felt like it could have been a really, really low round.”
