No matter who wins the FedEx Cup and PGA Tour Player of the Year award, this season will be remembered for what Justin Thomas has done. It started last fall when he took the CIMB Classic over Hideki Matsuyama. It continued in January when he doubled up in Hawaii and shot a 59 for good measure. Now, it has been shut down by a two-tournament nightcap that included the year's final major championship.
And there are still two tournaments to go.
Thomas, as most people likely know by now, is one of just three golfers to have put together a season like this since 1960. That's five wins and a major in a single year before turning 25. Two of them are the greatest players who have ever teed it up and the third is a Hall of Famer in the making.
With his win Monday at the Dell Technologies Championship, Thomas moved to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Rankings and pulled within a few points of FedEx Cup leader Jordan Spieth. If you're looking for appropriate comparisons, it can be argued that he has accomplished as much this year as Rickie Fowler has in his entire career (and Fowler has had a terrific career).
So why doesn't it feel like this is getting the attention it deserves? Why are more folks outside of golf not drooling over the prospect of Thomas winning five majors and 30 PGA Tour events over the next 15 years? Why does it feel like one of the four best players on the planet is still flying under the radar?
It takes golfers years to adjust to PGA Tour life. Matt Kuchar has talked before about how there's a 10-year learning curve on the PGA Tour. Heck, even Phil Mickelson failed to win his first major until he had been on the PGA Tour for over a decade. And yet, Thomas has won six times in his first 92 events (including a major championship), which is about the same clip as Mickelson.
Thomas has figured out how to raise trophies at an age where you're traditionally supposed to be figuring out how to make cuts. He is a superstar shrouded by the shadow of the one who came before him.
Jordan Spieth, not Tiger Woods, ruined how we think about Justin Thomas. Woods is the outlier here, obviously. He almost cannot even be part of the conversation. He obliterated everything we thought we knew about professional golf and how young golfers are supposed to play it. He stands alone.
But Thomas' big problem is not Woods, it's Spieth. We've seen this season before from a young, swaggering American, and it happened just two years ago. I presume this is why Thomas' star has not shined as brightly as it should have this year. That's an unfortunate reality for everyone involved, but it doesn't mitigate what Thomas is doing.
"You can't say that I saw this coming," Thomas said Monday after win No. 5 on the year. "It's not like I was like, 'Yeah, I know I'm going to win five or six times this year.' But I felt like I had the game and capability to; it just was a matter of it happening, and, you know, everything working out.
"In the beginning of my career, all of two years ago, or two and a half years ago on Tour, I think I forced things. I tried to win the tournament, as opposed to letting it happen. Obviously I'm trying to win the tournament now but I'm more so just kind of letting the birdies happen, letting the pars happen, as opposed to I stand on the tee like, 'I have to birdie this hole, I have to hit here, I have to, he's up there; he did that, I have to do this.'"
Thomas also noted that his mental game has improved in just under 100 events on the PGA Tour. The stats show it, too. Last year, he was No. 134 in bogey avoidance. This year, he's No. 18. Thomas has been better in nearly every statistical category, but his biggest gain has come with the putter. He went from No. 131 to No. 27 in strokes gained. With the way he strikes it, that's going to win a lot of tournaments.
"I'm a lot better at golf. I think I'm stronger. I'm in better shape. I'm way more mentally tough," Thomas said Monday. "Things don't affect me as much. I mean, I'm still fiery. I still get angry. That's just my personality, my character; that will probably never change."
Thomas has always been nearly as good, if not better than, Spieth throughout their entire junior careers so it shouldn't surprise us that the two have won eight times this year with two majors. Thomas said he was driven by Spieth's winning ways and still is.
"I still get jealous," Thomas said. "Any time any of my friends win and I don't, I'm extremely happy for them, I'm pumped for them, I'm excited but I'm jealous. I wish I had three majors right now. I mean, I'm obviously pleased with one but I wish I had three."
Maybe his time for three or more majors is coming. This season has certainly been an eye-opener. He started the year No. 22 in the world, and now he has just Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Matsuyama in front of him in the world ranking. The talent is certainly undeniable, and he has that extra gear that all the great ones possess.
"I'm just comfortable when I get there," Thomas said. "I enjoy it and I love winning. I enjoy that, that rush, and just the satisfaction of beating everybody that week."
Don't be fooled by the misdirection in Spieth. That 2015 season that included five wins and two majors was great, but Thomas is still having an all-time, historic season for somebody this young.
Even if it hasn't truly hit us yet.