Justin Lewis Thomas was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on April 29, 1993. He became popular in 2017 after claiming his first Major title in the 99th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in August and was also named PGA Player of 2017. He is the fourth American to win five majors before the age of 25 in a single season.
Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth were the other golfers who participated. He came second in his championship on the season-ending tour, earning the much-anticipated FedEx Cup and a whopping $10 million reward.
Thomas descended from a long history of professional golfers. His father, Mike Thomas was a lead professional at Harmony Landing Golf Club in Goshen, Kentucky, while his grandfather, Paul, a 60-year PGA Tour veteran, emigrated to the United States in 1962. He served in the Navy and played in the open. Thomas’ skills were apparent and of course in his DNA. The third-generation professional golfer was placed third in his first PGA Tour competition before completing his senior year of high school in 2009. At 16, he became the third youngest player in PGA Tour history.
In 2012, when he was a student at the University of Alabama, he won the Haskins Award and the Nicklaus Award, which are given annually to the nation’s best collegiate golfers, and turned professional the following year at the age of 20. He won his first tournament on his Web.com circuit in 2014 and his first-ever PGA tournament in Malaysia, in 2016.
Early Life & Career
Thomas’ father and grandparents were accomplished golfers, and his ability for the game was obvious from an early age. He attended the University of Alabama after graduating from Xavier High School in St. Louisville, Kentucky, in 2011. The Crimson Tide is his athletic team.
He was named to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship Team the following year when the Crimson Tide won the National Team Championship. Thomas was a part of the Alabama squad that reached the finals in 2012 and 2013.
Before becoming a pro at the age of 20, Thomas set an Alabama record with six individual wins in college competitions.
Personal Life
He is a third-generation golf pro, born in Louisville, Kentucky parents to Mike and Jani Thomas. His father was a senior professional at Goshen’s Harmony Landing Golf Club. Thomas’ paternal grandfather was also a tennis player who competed in the US Open and was the head pro at Zanesville Country Club.
As a child, he apparently showed an interest in the game, taking up a racket for the very first time before the age of two. Despite becoming a professional golfer, Thomas does not select Kentucky as his life partner. He has been seeing his girlfriend, Jillian Wisniewski, since 2016, despite the fact that he is not married.
Wisniewski, like Thomas, is from Kentucky and works for an advertising firm as a production business manager. She got her BA in Journalism from the University of Kentucky. Wisniewski works full-time. Therefore, she won’t always be present during matches with Thomas. She almost missed his first major success, but on August 13, 2017, she hopped on a flight to Charlotte to celebrate his win.
Justin Thomas’s Net Worth
Thomas has amassed incredible wealth despite his young age, owing to winnings, sponsorships, and other endorsements. Thomas has earned $38,745,227 in prize money alone prior to the 2020 Masters and is now ranked 24th on the PGA Tour career money leaders list.
The $10 million he won as the 2017 FedExCup champion accounts for a significant amount of it, but Thomas continues to add to his already outstanding score. Thomas has accumulated a sizable fortune despite his early age, owing to prize money, sponsorships, and other resources.
He alone has $38,745,227 in prize money ahead of the 2020 Masters, and he sits 24th on the PGA Tour lifetime money leaderboard. The $10 million he won as the winner of his FedExCup in 2017 is a major piece of it, but Thomas’ amazing record continues.
As of 2023, the 29-year-old is believed to have a net worth of more than $50 million. He was placed 66th on Forbes magazine’s list of the 100 best-paid athletes in the world in 2018 and 30th on the magazine’s Under 30 list in 2019. With prize money in golf continuing to rise, Thomas has a solid chance of becoming an all-time top earner if he performs well into his 40s.
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