Justin Thomas opened up about his disappointing outing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The American golfer played his first event on the PGA Tour this season at Bay Hill Club.

The two-time major winner had undergone microdiscectomy surgery in November and has been recovering from it. However, he had a tough start on his comeback.

The 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational had a cutline after 36 holes, and Thomas had a terrible time. He missed the cut, and after the Friday round, he talked about it and also about his preparation for the upcoming event.

“I’d come out here to practice, but it doesn’t really make sense to putt on these greens,” Thomas said. “I mean, there’s zero chance that they’re going to be alive Sunday. They are so dead already, so that is one good thing about not playing here this weekend, because it is going to suck. It’s going to be really hard.”

Justin Thomas shot 7-over 79 on Friday and talked about his game.

“Yeah, just one of those things will take a little some time and decompressing this afternoon to kind of evaluate it,” Thomas said. “Yeah, it’s a place that it really, really exposes you if you’re not sharp and hit in the wrong places and don’t have a lot of control. It was a lot of everything. I had the lefts going and just pretty miserable first couple of days back, but I guess better get it out of the way.”

Thomas settled with a total of 14 over in last place on the leaderboard. Notably, the Arnold Palmer Invitational features a limited field of 72 players, and only the top 50 and ties secure a spot for the final two rounds.

Shane Lowry also missed the cut along with some other big names, including Patrick Cantlay, Justin Rose, Keegan Bradley, and others.

A look into Justin Thomas’ performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Justin Thomas kicked off his game at the 2026 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday. He teed it up on the first hole with a bogey and then added a birdie on the fourth. He made two bogeys on the front nine and on the back nine added three bogeys, two double bogeys, and two birdies for 7-over 79.

After his tough start, Justin Thomas again struggled on Friday in the second round of the event. He started the round with a double bogey on the first tee, but then found some relief on the second hole with a birdie.

However, he then made two more bogeys and a double bogey on the front nine and a double bogey, two birdies, and a bogey on the back nine for 7-over 79. After two rounds, Daniel Berger took the lead in the tournament at 13 under.