'Just Put Me In The F****** Fairway' - JT Shares Hilarious Tiger Woods Story

Thomas recalled the memorable Woods quote during the first episode of Smylie Kaufman's new podcast

Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods celebrate after winning a match at the 2019 Presidents Cup
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Justin Thomas has given a glimpse into what it's like to partner Tiger Woods, sharing a brilliant story from the 2019 Presidents Cup on the first episode of Smylie Kaufman's new podcast.

Woods was a playing captain at the biennial match play event at Royal Melbourne and combined with Thomas to win 4&3 in the day one fourballs, before being pushed all the way by Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong-hun An in the foursomes on day two.

Thomas was on the even holes and had the honour on the 16th with the match all square and the American's trailing 6-2 overall at the time. As a fader of the ball, Thomas admitted it wasn't a shot that suited his eye so he called on his 15-time Major champion teammate for some advice.

Here's the story recalling the epic response he got...

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"Royal Melbourne, one of the most unbelievable course ever," Thomas told Kaufman. "I absolutely loved it. So I had 16 tee shot and it’s this brutal hole. It’s this very narrow dog leg left, and it just gradually dog legs the whole way. And I like to fade the ball off the tee and there’s this damn tree that’s like right off of the tee on the left that’s just right in my window. 

"It’s a big point in the match. I need to get this ball in play. I have the greatest iron player on Planet Earth on my team, but it’s such a long hole I can’t hit an iron because it’s like a driver-five iron kind of par-4. And I never really ask Tiger anything in terms of layups or whatever it is, and that’s what makes him such a great partner. He’s just like, 'Look, you go play, I’ll go play, I’ll let you know if I need anything'.

"So I’m up on the tee and I call Tiger over. He’s like, 'What?' I’m like, 'I mean, is there anything, like, this tee shot’s not very comfortable for me. Like, do you care if you’re further back or...' And he just goes, 'I don’t care what I have in, just put me in the f****** fairway'.

"And I was like, 'OK, that doesn’t make it any easier but I appreciate it, partner'."

The pair went on to half 16 and 17 before Thomas sunk a 20-footer on the last to take the spoils as the US mounted a comeback and eventually retained the Presidents Cup with a 16-14 victory.

Andrew Wright
Staff Writer

A lifelong golf fan, Andy graduated in 2019 with a degree in Sports Journalism and got his first role in the industry as the Instruction Editor for National Club Golfer. From there, he went on to enjoy a spell freelancing for Stats Perform producing football reports, and then for RacingNews365 covering Formula 1. However, he couldn't turn down the opportunity to get back into the sport he grew up watching and playing and now covers a mixture of equipment, instruction and news for Golf Monthly's website and print title.


Andy took up the game at the age of seven and even harboured ambitions of a career in the professional ranks for a spell. That didn’t pan out, but he still enjoys his weekend golf at Royal Troon and holds a scratch handicap. As a side note, he's made five holes-in-one and could quite possibly be Retief Goosen’s biggest fan.


As well as the above, some of Andy's work has featured on websites such as goal.com, dailyrecord.co.uk, and theopen.com.


What's in Andy's bag?

Driver: Callaway Mavrik Sub-Zero (9°)

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus (15°)

Driving iron: Titleist U500 (17°)

Irons: Callaway Apex Pro '19 (4-PW)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (50°, 54° and 58°)

Putter: TaylorMade Spider X

Ball: TaylorMade TP5x