Go Long
PGA Championship 2022: Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm launch 409- and 418-yard nukes on first hole in span of minutes, lord have mercy
On Friday at the PGA Championship, Justin Thomas stepped onto the tee box at Southern Hills’ iconic first hole, pulled out the big stick, and dialed up a beauty. It held against the wind, threatened to break clean from the planet’s gravitational pull for a moment, and then arched serenely back to earth some 409 yards later.
It was one for the highlight reel Twitter feed, but golf fans barely had time to scrape their jaws off the pavement before Jon Rahm—the greatest driver in the realm according to ye olde stats—arrived at the first tee to (re)assert his distance dominance. And boy did he ever …
Sweet. Fancy. Moses. As the old saying goes, these guys are good. Also long. Like really, really absurdly long. And during a second round beset by wind with no DeChambeau in the field taking X Games lines off every tee, it was exactly the spark the tournament needed.
There’s no telling if Rahm’s 418 yarder will stand up as the PGA Championship’s biggest bomb at week’s end (the biggest threat to that title is Rahm himself). Nor if the stress-free par Thomas rolled in after his blast will be the difference come Sunday evening. But we can’t think of a better way to kick off another beautiful spring afternoon in front of the TV. Go get ‘em boys.