When Justin Thomas tees off in the early afternoon, he'll be looking to become the first golfer to win back-to-back Players Championships.
However, Thomas isn't approaching the tournament as a title defense.
"I'm not defending this title. The PGA Tour isn't going to come to my living room and take my Players Championship trophy from 2021 from me after this week," Thomas said, per Dave Shedloski of Golf Digest. "... I'm just going to go try to win it again. That's all I'm going to try to do."
It's a solid approach that should help alleviate the pressure Thomas faces over the weekend. This isn't boxing or MMA, and if Thomas doesn't finish atop the leaderboard, it won't diminish what he's already accomplished. Thomas can focus on playing his best possible round each day.
This doesn't mean, though, that Thomas doesn't have an excellent chance of repeating and ending the back-to-back drought that has existed since the Players Championship was introduced in 1982.
"Nobody has averaged more birdies-or-better per round at TPC Sawgrass since 2016 as JT (5.26)," The Athletic's Justin Ray wrote.
The group of Thomas, McIlroy and Morikawa will definitely be worth following throughout Thursday.
