Justin Thomas Speaks on Loss of Ralph Lauren Sponsorship

Justin Thomas is playing on the European Tour this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. But that wasn’t the big story that Thomas was dealing with prior to teeing off there this week. Instead it was the loss of his Ralph Lauren sponsorship.

Thomas is dealing with the loss of one of his biggest sponsors after an incident in Hawaii a couple of weeks ago. That’s when Thomas’ voice was heard uttering a homophobic slur after he missed a putt.

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For Thomas, it has been a very tough experience to deal with. He continues to apologize for his actions, even this week when he’s halfway across the world.

On Wednesday, Thomas spoke publicly for the first time since the loss of the Ralph Lauren sponsorship. Once again, he apologized for what he said.

“I’m clearly beyond (not) proud of what I said. It’s humiliating, it’s embarrassing,” Thomas said. “It’s not me. It’s not a word that I use but for some reason, it was in there and that’s what I’m trying to figure out, as to why it was in there.”

Thomas realizes that he still has some work to do to re-gain the trust of his sponsors.

“It’s going to be a part of this process or training program or whatever I need to do not only to prove to myself and prove to my sponsors and prove to those people who don’t know who I am but that’s indeed not the person I am,” Thomas said.

Ralph Lauren did not rule out sponsoring Thomas again. However, the company said he must improve.

“As we make this decision, our hope is that Mr. Thomas does the hard and necessary work in order to partner with us again – truly examining this incident, learning, growing and ultimately using his platform to promote inclusion,” the brand said in a statement.

Thomas clearly messed up here and he has admitted it. He has apologized for it. He’s trying to move forward. He’s dealing with this embarrassing incident the best way he knows how.

Give him credit for standing up and answering every question on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. Thomas was contrite, apologetic and sincere in his words. Now, he needs to make sure his actions follow. And I think that he will because I do not believe that Thomas is the type of person who typically uses those kinds of derogatory words.