Alabama fans will cringe after hearing Justin Thomas talk about playing in the Memorial pro am with Nick Saban and Ryan Day

DUBLIN, Ohio — Noted college football fan and Alabama diehard Justin Thomas played in the Memorial Tournament pro-am Wednesday morning with former Alabama coach Nick Saban and Ohio State coach Ryan Day and departed after nine holes a changed man. Or maybe just a changed fan.

In a surprising turn of events, Thomas became (gasp!) a bit of a Buckeyes fan after spending time with Day, who led Ohio State to the national championship in January with its 35-23 victory over Notre Dame.

“I actually joked with Coach Saban coming up 18. I was like, man, I hate to say this, but Coach Day's a really, really good dude, and I hate that I'm going to maybe have to root for Ohio State a little bit because of how nice of a guy he was,” Thomas said Wednesday at Muirfield Village Golf Club. “He seemed very genuine.”

A two-time major winner, Thomas, 31, is always going to be partial to the Crimson Tide and have overriding respect for Saban, who won six national titles at Alabama. But Thomas wasn’t shy about chatting up both coaches on gridiron subjects.

“It was awesome. I mean, anytime I can get with Coach Saban, I enjoy,” Thomas said. “I just love talking to him and he's always been so unbelievably nice and supportive to my family and myself and, you know, a lot of other players as well at Alabama. But just the nerd in me really wanted to … you know, I was able to kind of talk football a little bit or ask questions between them two and myself, and I mean, that was pretty cool. I know that that's probably the last thing they want to talk about, but it's pretty awesome seeing two greats just out there and hanging and it was really fun.”

Preparing for his 11th start in the Memorial, Thomas admitted that he couldn’t help but get caught up in the interaction between the two coaches, who, not surprisingly, drew a large gallery on a cool and dreary morning.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said with a laugh. “They had a lot of fans out there. Coming off of a great year for Coach Day, and I think that they have obviously become closer and friendlier over the past couple years. Yeah, those are two people I think you more sit back and listen than you do try to lead any conversation.”