Justin Thomas came out firing, star-studded top 10 and more from first round of 2024 Genesis Scottish Open

Thomas has had a disappointing year by his standards. He had two top-10 finishes early in the season — T-3 at the American Express and T-6 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am — but failed to do so in his next eight starts. However, over his last six starts entering this week, Thomas has made five cuts and finished T-8 or better three times: T-5 (RBC Heritage), T-8 (PGA Championship) and T-5 (Travelers Championship).

On Thursday, he kept the good times rolling with an opening-round 8-under 62 at The Renaissance Club. After birdieing his first hole of the day, Thomas made four straight birdies on Nos. 5-8 and made the turn with a 5-under 30.

The Alabama product added three more circles to his card on Nos. 10, 12 and 13 before a great save on the par-3 17th, making an 11-foot par putt after a wayward tee shot and a below-average chip. A near chip-in led to a tap-in par at the last and Thomas signed for an 8-under 62, one shy of tying the course record.

“It’s always good to get off to a good start, and even better to get off to a great one,” he said after his round. “I felt like I was in great control of everything. Just when I missed it, I missed it in the right spots and had a lot of really quality shots. On those 4-, 5-, 6-footers to kind of make something out of them, I stole a couple with some long or mid-range putts.

“Like any golfer, I would have loved to finish those last five holes a little bit better but I played really, really solid today, and that par putt on 17 was huge. I love going bogey-free so it was nice to — I would have had a different taste in my mouth walking off 18.”

Thomas’ last win came at the 2022 PGA Championship.