Justin Thomas flames out at Waste Management Phoenix Open

Justin Thomas went from white-hot to ice cold – and out of serious contention – in the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Justin Thomas is one of the best golfers on the planet (shocker, right?) but that doesn’t make him invincible. Golf is a fickle, fickle beast, and he got to see both ends of that spectrum in his third round at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Saturday.

Thomas began his round at -6, just four off the midway lead held by Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau. After missing the cut each of the past two years in the desert, however, Thomas was ready for some redemption.

Blasting out of the gates with six consecutive birdies, Thomas looked unstoppable from the jump. By the time he nearly jarred out for eagle on his approach to the sixth green, the 59 watch was moving in full force.

Then, the wheels fell off.

It didn’t happen all at once, of course. Thomas narrowly missed a par save on the par-3 7th, then made three straight pars to turn at -11, five under on the round. He went into the home stretch at -10, with plenty of opportunity ahead.

On No. 15, Thomas pulled driver to start, changing his strategy from the safer 3-wood he had planned on all week. The shot ended up in the drink, and what followed was almost absurd, especially by Thomas’s standards.

Justin Thomas left “shocked, speechless” by disastrous finish

He laid up on his third shot into the fairway, but blasted his approach into the bunker in front of the green. He blasted out over the green, and pitched to 17 feet. Two putts later, he was in with the dreaded snowman.

The stadium 16th held more of the same. He hit the green in regulation, but – well, we’ll just show you what happened.

Ah, yes, the wonders of the four-putt double on a par-3. The normally outspoken Thomas may have gotten a bit aggressive late considering how well had started off, and he didn’t have a lot to say afterwards.

"“Shocked. Speechless. That pretty much sums it up,” Thomas said. “…It just sucks, man, to play so well and have a really, really, really good chance to win this tournament, and to give it away in two holes really.”“I’m so mad at myself for hitting driver[…]I just was feeling it for some reason and I hit it.”"

So maybe he got a little cocky. Anybody who’s ever played golf at any level has done it. It’s just that, when we do, most of us don’t have millions of dollars riding on the result.

On the plus side, he quickly recovered his sense of humor about everything that went down.

All in a day’s work, I guess. I’m mad longer than that when I duck-hook a few in a charity scramble.

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Whether or not Justin Thomas can light up TPC Scottsdale on Sunday, don’t expect this to keep him down for long. If I were a betting man (and I am), I’d look for him to put up a solid round in the mid-60s to make up for what could have been on Saturday.