After undergoing a microdiscectomy to address a disc issue in his back and missing five months of action, Justin Thomas returned to competitive golf this week, making his 2026 debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The 32-year-old knew rust would likely be part of the equation in his first tournament since September. But his struggles quickly went from understandable to alarming.
Thomas’ opening round at Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge was rough enough — a 7-over 79 that included two double bogeys, six bogeys and three birdies. He ranked 68th (out of 72 players) in strokes gained off the tee and on approach and lost 3.974 strokes putting to rank 71st in the field.
But Friday was even worse.
Thomas double-bogeyed the first hole and added another double at No. 9 to stumble to a 5-over 41 on the front nine. The round unraveled further on the back side when his tee shot found the water on the par-4 11th, leading to a triple bogey.
“Yeah, it was kind of hard to say it was good to be back out,” Thomas told reporters after the opening round, per PGA Tour. “Not obviously how I expected it to go. But the rust aspect kind of, unfortunately, was a little bit of what I anticipated.”
Thomas sits in last at 14-over par through early play Friday. No one else in the field was worse than +7 in the middle of the second round.
The two-time major champion has hit just 10 of 25 fairways, hit 14 of 31 greens and is averaging 1.93 putts per green in regulation. He’s going to miss the cut in his 2026 debut, something he hasn’t done since the 2025 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.