Justin Thomas SMASHES 427-yard drive in Tournament of Champions second round

Justin Thomas maybe 10 shots behind Collin Morikawa after two rounds of the Sentry Tournament of Champions, but he provided one of the most explosive shots of the week on Friday.

The 7th hole is a 535-yard par-4. Yes, you read that correctly. It is longer than the par-5 5th hole on the Plantation Course, but admittedly not longer than the monstrous 18th hole which played 669 yards in the second round.

Thomas knew he needed a solid strike off the tee to reach this green in two, and he delivered. As soon as his ball landed, it bounded down the hill and came to rest about 106 yards away from the green.

The ball had travelled 427 yards, a stratospheric figure that only the likes of Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau could dream of. Unfortunately, the two-time USPGA champion didn't convert the birdie from 15 feet.

It is no surprise that this is the longest drive of the season so far. Mito Pereira had held the top spot in this discipline with his 387-yard bullet at the CJ Cup in October.

427 yards @JustinThomas34 making a 535-yard par 4 look short pic.twitter.com/dtZjTDeeDr

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 6, 2023

Thomas carded his second 70 of the week to sit on 6-under-par, a mile away from his Ryder Cup teammate Morikawa who is looking for his first win on Tour since The Open Championship in 2021.

You'd have reason to expect the 29-year-old to be higher on the leaderboard in Hawaii given his record at the event. He is a two-time winner, most recently in 2020 when he beat Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele in a playoff.

As for Morikawa, he has carded rounds of 64 and 66 to lead by two shots from Scottie Scheffler, aiming to return to World No.1, and J.J. Spaun who raised eyebrows with his untucked shirt on Aloha Friday. 

"Obviously it played a lot harder with kind of the wind, and just the fairways rolling pretty fast, you end up in a lot of spots where you're just going to end up in the rough. 1, 13, 10, even. It's just going to happen," Morikawa said after the second round.

"You just got to play shots and kind of hit them to good spots and thankfully we were able to take advantage of enough holes today to kind of keep those birdies going."

Thomas will tee it up with fan favourite Max Homa in the third round on Saturday, a prospect that excited Homa for reasons you might not expect. See the tweet below.

Sometimes things just kind of work out. Can’t wait to play with one of my favorite people tomorrow! I hope he has a great day caddying for @JustinThomas34 #Bones pic.twitter.com/0B8VtPd4QY

— max homa (@maxhoma23) January 7, 2023