Justin Thomas’ accountability paying dividends at PGA Championship

TULSA, Okla. — Honesty is always the best policy when it comes to self-assessment for athletes.

Those who are honest with themselves are more apt to succeed than those lacking in self-awareness.

This is one of the most valuable assets in the arsenal of Justin Thomas, who — by no accident — happens to be in contention at the PGA Championship leaderboard entering the weekend.

Thomas, who got to 6-under after shooting a second consecutive 67 on Friday and trails leader Will Zalatoris by three shots entering the weekend, refuses to BS himself and he doesn’t want anyone around him to BS him.

The 29-year-old Thomas has been stuck on one career major — the 2017 PGA Championship — and has not contended in many others, and that ticks him off because he understands the urgency of taking advantage of his talent and prime.

In his 25 major starts entering this week, Thomas has that one victory just and five top-10 finishes.

This, Thomas knows damn well considering his considerable talent, has not been good enough.

Since his win at the ’17 PGA, Thomas has had just one realistic chance to win a major — a fourth-place finish at the 2020 Masters, and that was eight shots back of Dustin Johnson’s winning score.

Not good enough.

Thomas’ best finish in a major last year was a tie for 19th at the U.S. Open.

Not good enough.

What makes this all so curious is the fact it’s not like Thomas has been in some sort of prolonged funk, like Jordan Spieth fell into a couple years ago and like Rickie Fowler is currently trying to climb out of. Thomas has 14 career wins.

Yet what’s most refreshing about Thomas is how honest he is with himself. Thomas calling himself out last month at the Masters for underperforming in major championships was a rare display of public honesty.

“I have not even close to performed well in my entire career in majors,’’ Thomas said at Augusta, where he rallied from a poor first round to finish tied for eighth. “I feel like I’ve performed very, very poorly.”

After shooting 67 in opening round on Thursday, Thomas said he would “sign up’’ for three more 67s the rest of the tournament. One down Friday, two to go Saturday and Sunday.

Thomas posting two more 67s to get to 12-under for the week would put him in good position to win a second career PGA Championship and second career major.

“Still a long way, a long, long way home, but I’m very pleased with where I’m at,’’ Thomas said.

Making Thomas’ performance the past two days even more impressive is the fact he got the bad side of the draw, having played in the windiest conditions in the afternoon Thursday and in even windier conditions on Friday morning with gusts reaching 40 miles per hour.

Instead of complaining about the bad luck of the draw, Thomas spoke before the round of “embracing’’ the challenge of the elements. He did, and it showed.

Playing perfectly into how honest Thomas wants to be with himself, he’s surrounded himself with people closest to him who are not “yes’’ men.

His caddie, Jim “Bones’’ Mackay, is a seasoned veteran who isn’t afraid to speak his mind with his player — something he did with aplomb with Phil Mickelson for 25 years. Then there’s Thomas’ father, Mike, who’s his swing coach and has been since he was a kid. Thomas said he has pushed his father to be more critical of him.

“I get pissed at him sometimes,’’ Thomas said. “As a dad, he doesn’t want to … he’s not going to go full Butch Harmon or Pete Cowan [high-profile swing coaches] and tell me I suck or that’s not very good or whatever it is, and sometimes I would love for him to say that just because I want to hear it.

“I have to remind him sometimes, ‘You’re not my dad out here, you’re my swing coach, and I need you to tell me if something is wrong. I don’t need my ego boosted.’ I’m here to try to win a golf tournament and play well, so ‘do your job’ kind of thing. It’s gotten a lot better over the last couple years, but it’s like any player-coach relationship. You need that accountability.’’

Accountability is honesty.

Common characteristics of winners.