Justin Thomas' father can't wait to "deal grief" with Tiger and Charlie Woods
Justin Thomas and his father Mike will tee it up with Tiger Woods and his son Charlie on Saturday, as the two families compete for bragging rights.
Mike Thomas, the father of Justin Thomas, is looking forward to "dealing some grief" and competing against Tiger and Charlie Woods at the PNC Championship.
Speaking to the media in Orlando on Friday, Mike declared he "wants to beat everybody" when he was asked if he'd also be keeping an eye on Jordan Spieth and his father Shawn on the leaderboard.
The Thomas duo already have some bragging rights over Tiger and Charlie as they have a PNC trophy in their cabinet from 2020 when they finished one shot ahead of Vijay Singh and his son Qass.
The marquee group of the first round with the Thomas' and the Woods' will tee off at 12.17 pm local time at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club and much like Tiger's passion for playing with Charlie, Thomas shares the same enjoyment for playing with his father.
"If the opportunity arises for each of us to give each other some grief, there will be some grief dealt out, I'm sure," Mike said.
Family @TigerWoods and Charlie Woods will tee it up alongside @JustinThomas34 and Mike Thomas tomorrow @PNCChampionship. pic.twitter.com/w5HrAxz3D0
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 16, 2022
"We want to beat everybody. So just beating one team, we just go out and try to make as many birdies as we can and see where that is at the end of two days.
"We had a blast last year. It was just such a different, unique feeling winning this. It just was, I guess I've grown up my whole life thinking and dreaming of winning tournaments and winning majors," Justin added.
"But I never thought about the opportunity to be able to win a tournament with my dad, and that's pretty cool.
"It's something that I can't really put into words or explain but it's fun whether it's watching highlights of past tournaments or, you know, we're able to spend the night together after winning a tournament but for us to actually celebrate together because we both won was a pretty cool deal."
There may be some sledging involved in today's first round, but Mike was impressed by how much young Charlie has grown since last year's competition. "He's got a lot of skill for sure," Mike said.
During yesterday's Pro-Am, Woods was trying to enhance Charlie's skill in some intriguing footage which showed the 46-year-old analysing his son's swing on his phone.
While speaking to the media, Woods revealed that players close to him, such as Thomas, encourage him to take a step back from competition to focus on rehabilitating his right leg.
But as Thomas alluded to, this family-orientated PGA Tour event is too special to turn down and we also saw this with Will McGee, Annika Sorenstam's 11-year-old son, who was thriving on Friday in front of the excited crowd.
