“He didn’t know that I was…decent,” Justin Thomas recalls how playing with Michael Jordan helped ‘pay for my first car’ at age 15

Justin Thomas tells Michael Jordan and the others didn’t know how good of a player he was, and their tee time led JT to get his first car at the age of 15.

“He didn’t know that I was…decent,” Justin Thomas recalls how playing with Michael Jordan helped ‘pay for my first car’ at age 15

Michael Jordan and Justin Thomas [Image Credit: Imago]

PGA Tour player Justin Thomas recalled an incredible story of playing with NBA legend Michael Jordan on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’. JT along with his wife Jillian Wisniewski, appeared on the show following their visit to Madison Square Garden for the NY Knicks vs. Detroit Pistons game on Monday. 

Thomas was accompanied by the retired Supreme Court Justice, Stephen Breyer as the trio chatted over golf tee times, and Jordan’s love for the game. Their conversation took an epic turn following JT’s reveal of how he got his first car at just 15 years old.

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Justin Thomas revealed he won a hefty amount of money by teeing up with Jordan at the Kentucky Derby. The golf course was closer to where Thomas grew up and his father Mike served as the head professional there. Thomas recalls how MJ would often play golf with his buddies whenever he was in town and he served as their caddie for the first few years. 

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Although the first two years went silently by, during the third year, MJ asked Thomas to gear up for the last seven holes. However, Thomas states that Jordan and the others didn’t know how good of a player he was, and how much money was at stake for the final round. 

Fortunately for Thomas, he scored four birdies in seven holes and paid for his first car at the age of 15. Jordan’s ‘The Little Man’ stunned everyone on the course as no one thought that the kid who is 111lb would play “decent” in their outing.

He knew I played golf, but he didn’t know that I was…decent, and nobody else definitely had any idea.
Justin Thomas on The Late Night Show with Stephen Colbert.

Furthermore, MJ and his group did not tell Thomas how much was at stake or they feared “he might…(freak out)”. The PGA Tour star noted that he felt pressure playing with the GOAT but his tee time also became part of an epic childhood memory. 

Michael Jordan reveals how golf became an “outlet” to “get away from all the noise”

During an interview with RSNG, Michael Jordan revealed why golf has become a part of his life. He said he desperately needed a place to just rest from all the noise and golf became the shadow that acted as his getaway drive. He loved the “seclusion and calm” it brought to him and labeled the sport as “the coolest thing ever.” 

Michael Jordan [Image Credit: CNN]
Michael Jordan [Image Credit: CNN]

Golf became “therapeutic” for the GOAT as he drove in the fairway almost any free time he got from his ever-busy schedule. Jordan delved deeper saying it is not just a sport of “knocking a ball around” but a “necessity” that he needed.

For the first time in my life it’s been a place where I’ve been able to get away from all the noise…I suddenly had this outlet that was like nothing I had found before.
Michael Jordan on golf as per RSNG.

MJ named three golf personalities whom he thought understood the mechanics of the sport the best – Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler. However, Jordan had a hard time deciding who could be labeled as the sports GOAT. He debated between Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, saying both of them equally hold the title of legends in the game.

Jordan talked about when he first picked up a golf club and all the moments he loved indulging in the sport, apart from being a legend in basketball. He said loved the “thrill” the new sport brought in his life and how it continues to be a big part of himself.

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