The Open Championship is widely regarded as one of the toughest tests in the sport, with natural landscapes and brutal weather causing players to extract every ounce of their talent and mental fortitude in order to successfully complete 18 holes.
And even then, sometimes that isn't enough, as Justin Thomas found out to his frustration at Royal Troon on Friday.
The two-time PGA Championship winner had carded a superb round of three-under in wet and windy conditions on Thursday - featuring seven birdies - before quickly dropping down the leaderboard in the early stages of a much drier but far breezier round two thanks to a five-hole streak of bogey or worse from the second to the sixth.
But it was at the fifth where the most shocking event occurred, with Thomas - renowned as one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour - coming up a staggering 83 yards short of the pin with his tee shot on a par 3.
While it was far from the ideal strike by Thomas - the 127mph ball speed off the tee was made all but redundant by the 121 foot apex - arguably the most telling factor behind his 131-yard strike with a fairway wood was the howling in-to wind which was gusting at around 30mph on the front nine.
JT popped up a fairway wood into the wind on 5 and it came up EIGHTY THREE YARDS SHORT pic.twitter.com/hy52Nq3DsYJuly 19, 2024
Royal Troon's fifth hole was measuring at 215 yards on Friday but ranked as the second toughest from early on - mainly due to the buffeting breeze golfers were facing. Many players were struggling to hold the green if their golf ball did make it on, and even then, three-putts were not uncommon.
Unfortunately for Thomas, the misery did not end after his first strike, either. The American's tee shot had landed in devilishly thick rough and caused him to only manage a 40-yard pitch (still short of the putting surface) with his second effort.
Thomas' third landed at the back of the green and 15 feet from the pin, but his fourth came up inches short before he tapped in for a double-bogey five.
The aforementioned run of bogey-or-worse left Thomas at three-over for the Championship after eight holes of round two and facing a nervy battle in trying to make the cut at The Open when he had begun the day in the mix for a third Major.
That fight became even harder after a disastrous ninth hole resulted in a triple-bogey seven. Thomas drove into the right rough with his tee shot before failing to shift his golf ball more than a yard with his second.
After taking a drop, Thomas' fourth stroke travelled into the left green-side rough. A chip onto the green and two putts completed his brutal front nine at Troon, leaving him on 45 after a total of 68 on Thursday.
Should he make it through to the weekend at Royal Troon, the weather forecast on Saturday and Sunday appears to be a real mix of heavy rain and more strong winds, meaning Thomas or another of his peers may face a similar situation as they tussle for position on the leaderboard.
