Michael Madrid, Michael Madrid / USA TODAY NETWORK
Justin Thomas has done pretty well for himself on the PGA Tour, but he can’t hold a candle to Tiger Woods. He did pounce on the opportunity to troll the living legend while gearing up for the Tour Championship a few years back, but it backfired courtesy of a perfect comeback involving a green jacket.
Tiger Woods was past his prime when Justin Thomas joined the PGA Tour in 2015, which means the latter never had to experience the era where most golfers who showed up to a tournament essentially felt like they were competing for second place.
Thomas has racked up 16 wins on the PGA Tour over the past decade, which is impressive but still a far cry from the 82 that Tiger accrued to tie Sam Snead for the most victories in the organization’s history. Three of those came in a tournament where Johnson was in the field, including Tiger’s triumph at the Tour Championship in 2018 and at The Masters the following year.
The G.O.A.T. hasn’t qualified for the Tour Championship since he won it for the third time. Thomas, on the other hand, is currently gearing up for his sixth appearance in the past seven years, and prior to the start of the tournament, he shared a story about the time he tried to troll Tiger for ending up on the outside looking in before getting put in his place.
Justin Thomas attempted to mock Tiger Woods for missing the Tour Championship before the G.O.A.T. used a green jacket to shut him down
Thomas and Tiger are good friends off the course and have a very friendly rivalry on it—one that got plenty of attention when the latter handed the former a tampon after he outdrove him during the Genesis Invitational in 2023.
It’s only natural that Thomas took the opportunity to brag about having the upper hand on Tiger after qualifying for an edition of the Tour Championship where Woods failed to make the final field, and on Tuesday, he recalled his decision to FaceTime him during a practice round at East Lake for what ended up being a short-lived victory lap.
Justin Thomas said he FaceTimed Tiger Woods in 2020 to remind Tiger that he didn’t qualify for the Tour Championship.
Tiger called back in the green jacket to remind JT that he hadn’t won The Masters. 😂 pic.twitter.com/gxqxgIMcPg
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) August 19, 2025
Here’s what he had to say:
“I remember playing a practice round and walking down 18 and FaceTiming Tiger because he wasn’t here, he didn’t qualify, and just showing him how the course was and how great it was.
Then, he acted like his phone cut out and then he called me back like two minutes later with the green jacket on. I remember that very, very, very vividly. Just a typical conversation of thinking I am having some kind of upper edge, and I get shut down and put in my place pretty quickly.”
Thomas (who has not earned the right to don that iconic piece of apparel) thought that interaction transpired in 2020.
However, it most likely unfolded in 2019 when you consider the winner of The Masters is only permitted to take the green jacket off the grounds of Augusta National in the year following their victory; they need to bring it back to the clubhouse when they return to defend their crown.