Woods has stopped giving me hints, says Masters rival Thomas

Battling Tiger Woods for Masters glory would be a dream for Justin Thomas, as the pair go into the tournament among the favourites to win.

Published : Apr 04, 2018 00:01 IST

Justin Thomas says Tiger Woods is providing him with fewer hints these days as the pair go into this week's Masters as two of the favourites.

The US PGA Championship winner and a resurgent Woods are among the leading candidates tipped to compete for the green jacket, along with the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.

Thomas played nine practice holes with four-time Masters champion Woods at Augusta on Monday and revealed his fellow American was being less forthcoming with advice than when he was injured.
            
"I think that Tiger's probably going to be a little bit more… a little harder to get stuff out of than when he was he was hurt and I was asking him questions," the world number two said at his pre-tournament media conference on Tuesday.

"He's kind of made hints at that, but at a place like this, I'm going to choose learning experience over my normal people I play practice rounds with.

"I don't care what they say to me, how much grief they're going to give me, if I could, if it would have worked out, I would have played with [Woods] all three days. It just didn't work out this morning, and I'm not sure what we're doing [on Wednesday].

"Tiger has always been my favourite growing up. I was I guess you could say getting serious into golf at eight, nine, 10 years old, when he was in his heyday, when he was winning about every other tournament he played in. 

"So for any kid, that's pretty fun to watch. You want to be like him. His Masters moments here are pretty endless, so can you kind of pick and choose one, but the chip in is definitely the one that I would say that sits with everybody." 

Thomas does not think he could have competed with Woods at his best, and said it would be a dream come true if they were both in contention going into the final round this year.

The 24-year-old added: "From the sounds of it, no [I could not have competed with him at his best].  

"Anybody that played against him say that you don't want that. So I don't know, I can't win. If I say I want to play against him, I can't beat him; and then if I say that I don't want to play against him, they say that I'm backing down from a challenge. So I don't really know what to say!

"I know he wants to make another run at us young guns. Some older guys have been winning lately, so I guess we need to try to get our little streak back.  

"But, no, it's great for golf, it's great for him. I'm happy for him. I cherish the opportunity to potentially be going down the stretch with him to win a golf tournament or potentially a major, so who knows.  

"All I've done is watch it and enjoyed it. Maybe I wouldn't enjoy it so much if I was on the other end, but I guess we'll never know, or maybe I will." 

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