2022 Hero World Challenge: Top 10 Power Rankings at Albany

If 11th-T12th-T5th-T5th was his resume at a full-field PGA Tour event, it would be one thing. However, it’s at the Hero World Challenge which has never exceeded 20 players since Thomas debuted in 2017.

Still, he’s improved from his early days at Albany.

JT was only four shots off the pace last year with rounds of 67-72-71-64. His Sunday 64 was the low round of the day and tied for the low round of the tournament.

Interestingly enough, this was Thomas’ first event after undergoing LASIK eye surgery in November 2021.

The operation seemed to help him in 2022.

He didn’t win as much this year as in recent years, but his high was higher than anything since 2017. Thomas mounted a miraculous back-nine comeback to win his second major at the PGA Championship.

It’s wild to think he hasn’t won since that May afternoon at Southern Hills, but with just one missed cut and a pair of top-10s since, he’s not far off from going on another heater.

Thomas also hasn’t opted to feast on some of the lower-rung PGA Tour events this fall.

He’s made only one start in the 2022-23 season, taking T-40th at the CJ Cup. Thomas did also star for the Americans at the Presidents Cup, going 4-1-0 at Quail Hollow.

I like a rested JT to be in the mix to win this week.

He’s got the iron play to attack Albany’s segmented greens and creativity and shotmaking to handle business out of the sandy waste areas.

The former Alabama Crimson Tide ranked eighth on the PGA Tour last season in strokes gained approach per round (.696). He was fourth in total SG (1.68) and top 20 in every category except for putting.