Justin Thomas met with the media on Tuesday ahead of his title defense at the RBC Heritage, and one of his talking points was comparing the walk he'll have this week to the one he just went through at The Masters.
“It's a lot easier to walk,” he said comparing Harbour Town Golf Links to Augusta National. “It feels like you kind of are floating and running around here a little bit.”
The Masters has many hills, and the challenge is not just hitting the shots from uneven lies all day; it’s walking the hills, some of which are like multistory buildings. There are two that are killers.
The journey from the 18th tee to the 18th green is about 70 feet. The hike compares to a five-story office building or a seven-story residential structure.
The 8th hole is two feet higher, 72 feet up, more or less the same distance up as the 18th.
Then, on each of those holes, after stair-stepping half-way up, golfers have to pause, gather themselves and hit good shots.
“My feet were pretty sore, I think, like a lot of guys,” Thomas said about the overall workout. “The physio room yesterday afternoon was pretty busy. I think a lot of guys with hips and quads, everything like that, very, very sore.”
What Thomas has learned to do is to stay in Augusta Monday night and take Monday off.
“It is tough, but I mean, at least for me, I've found that using yesterday as just a day off helps,” he explained. “I came and saw my physio and hung out, but just really need a day of rest and to decompress and kind of get back to it today has been a pretty decent recipe for me the last however many years.”
Then this week, as defending champion, he hit the tee shot to open the tournament, which is timed to a cannon shot – yes, a real old-timey cannon.
“I was prepared,” he said about the blast. “I definitely had a lot of people tell me. But got some earplugs and definitely used those, and I'm glad that I did. Yeah, could see if the cannon went off a little early in your swing, I could see a whiffing-the-ball situation pretty easily because it is very loud.”
Cannon blasts, hiking up a seven-story incline, those are things we don’t hear often in golf. But there’s one that’s much easier to take.
Today after he finished meeting the media, Justin Thomas participated in a newer tradition, the presentation and sampling of the Justin Thomas Burger which will be served at Fraser’s Tavern at The Sea Pines Resort.
It has a custom blend of short rib, brisket and chuck loaded with crispy Applewood bacon, smashed avocado, a fried egg, pepperjack cheese and southwestern aioli, all on a sesame bun. Thomas picked it up, took a monster chomp and pronounced it delicious. It’s one of those sandwich concoctions that’s so big you almost need a mouth-and-a-half to eat it.
Fraser’s Tavern also serves the custom burgers of other champions, including the DLIII ( Davis Love, III) Burger, the Scottie Scheffler Burger and “The Fitzy” Burger named for Matt Fitzpatrick. With the exception of the DLIII, all are recent winners of the RBC Heritage. Love has won the event a remarkable five times and recently completed a renovation to the golf course.
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