Justin Thomas was one of the surprise guests last night on The Late Show, a famous television programme in the United States. The two-time winner of the PGA Championship made an appearance on the interview space hosted by Stephen Colbert from the city of New York, after attending a Knicks game courtside at the Madison Square Garden with his wife. And there he told an original story about the time, when he was 15 years old, he played for money with Michael Jordan, star of the NBA.
“MJ used to do it,” Thomas began. “Oh, MJ,” Colbert replied. “I think there are a handful of people in the world that you can call by their initials and we all know who they are, and I put MJ in that category,” said Justin. “Sure, Michael Jackson“, Colbert responded with humour. “Good observation…”, noted the good-natured Thomas with a laugh.
JT (who is also known by his initials in the golfing scene) began to recall how Jordan always went to the Kentucky derby and wanted to play golf. The legendary basketball player would call former player Junior Bridgeman to organise a golf match on the course where Thomas’s father, Mike, was the head professional, near Louisville.
The first two years of those Jordan matches, Justin caddied for the group. But in the third, Jordan told Thomas, whom he called Little Man, to get his clubs so he could play the last seven holes as his partner. “He knew I played golf, but he didn’t know I was ‘decent’, and no one else had any idea, apparently,” Thomas told the television programme.
And how did he do in those seven holes? “I made four birdies and the money I won helped me pay for my first car,” he revealed. A statement that led the host to delve into the topic of betting… “I didn’t know the amount. He told everyone not to tell me what we were playing for because I might…”, he detailed. “Go crazy?”, asked Colbert. “Sure, something like that,” he replied.
“I won three or four of the big ones. The assistant at the time helped me gather things and then my dad scolded me: ‘You have to tip him’. ‘Who?’, I asked. ‘To Matt, the assistant’, he said”. Justin only had $100 bills from winning the match and gave him one. “My dad told me: ‘I can’t believe you gave him a $100 tip’. But that was all I had…”, concluded Justin with a laugh, recalling this curious anecdote with MJ, the star Michael Jordan.
