Justin Thomas Throws Perfect Subtle Jab At Talor Gooch And His Ridiculous 'Asterisk' Comment

The 2024 Players may feature the least-star-powered field in its history with the absence of LIV golfers, but Justin Thomas doesn't think the winner will have an asterisk next to his name. JT talking about an asterisk specifically may seem a bit random, but it's most definitely a shot at LIV's Talor Gooch.

Gooch made headlines in February when he made one of the more asinine comments in recent memory while claiming that without him and a select few other LIV players in the field for the Masters, the winner would have an asterisk next to their name. He specifically threw out the idea of Rory McIlroy winning the green jacket, which would give him the career Grand Slam, but without the presence of LIV golfers it would be slightly diminished.

"If Rory McIlroy goes and completes his [Career] Grand Slam without some of the best players in the world, there’s just going to be an asterisk. It’s just the reality. I think everybody wins whenever the majors figure out a way to get the best players in the world there," Gooch explained.

A total of 13 LIV players are in the field for next month's Masters with 12 of those 13 earning spots through the many qualification avenues. Joaquin Niemann is the lone exception after accepting a special invitation from Augusta National. Gooch, LIV's individual champion last season, failed to qualify for the year's first major, and he's clearly frustrated with that reality.

This brings us to Justin Thomas and this week's Players Championship.

It goes without saying that The Players has lost some of its juice without the likes of Jon Rahm, Cam Smith, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, and other LIV players in the field, but it still boasts one of the strongest tournament fields in all of professional golf with a purse of $25 million. 

READ: The Idea That LIV Golfers Should Be Allowed To Compete In The Players Is As Contradicting As It Gets

Whoever wins at TPC Sawgrass come Sunday, just like every past winner of The Players, will be picking up a career-altering victory, and as a past winner himself, Thomas fully grasps that.

"I mean, it's still been the best field in golf for many previous years. Yeah, you could always make an argument that there's other tournaments that are or are not. The PGA Championship has been the deepest field in terms of the most top 100 players, and I'm not just saying that for selfish reasons, it's just the truth," Thomas stated.

"I know what you mean in terms of how World Ranking and guys that are or aren't on the TOUR anymore, but that's just kind of the reality that -- and what they have put themselves in, and, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to have an asterisk next to my name for winning this because the field wasn't too good, right?"

You can't quite categorize Thomas' remarks here as ‘trash talk,’ but in the world of professional golf that's about as close as it gets. 

The fact that JT brought out the ‘asterisk’ phrase a few weeks after Gooch's initial comments and posed it as a question back to the media was a classy touch.

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