Justin Thomas denied free drop after tee shot lands near drain during third round of U.S. Open

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As Justin Thomas prepared to hit his opening tee shot in the third round of the U.S. Open at The Country Club on Saturday, an announcer introduced the two-time major champion as Justin Thompson

Thomas had gotten bad calls from the USGA before.

Thomas hit his tee shot on the fourth hole on the left side of the fairway. The ball stopped a few inches from the drain. He wanted a ruling on a free drop.

Thomas said that his ball was sitting differently than it would be if the drain was not there. In the spirit of the game, I told the official that I wouldn't hit the drain. I would have told her that I was going to get a free drop, but I wasn't.

The official ruled that Thomas wasn't getting relief since he said he wouldn't hit the drain.

The USGA said that during the discussion, Justin was asked if the drain would interfere with his swing. There was no interference from the drain.

If the ball touches or is in or on the obstruction, or the obstruction physically interfered with the player's area of intended stance or area of intended swing, a player is given relief.

There is no relief under the rule if the obstruction is close enough to distract the player.

Thomas sprayed his second shot into the greenside Bunker. Thomas made a few comments to his caddie after he chunked the shot.

Many other people would lie about being able to hit that, but it's just like they're not going to hit it. Thomas threw his iron at his bag.

Thomas made a mistake on the hole. He is 3 over after 54 holes, after finishing 2-over 72 for the second day in a row. After his round, Thomas and his team were still upset about the ruling.

Thomas said that he only hit it 100 yards because he had a pitching wedge in his hand. It's clear that my stance and where my ball was was altered because of that drain, but didn't get a drop from it. It's how it is. To get a drop, you need to hit the drain.

The bad news for Thomas is that he was 7 shots back going into the final round of the PGA Championship.

Thomas said that he would be better off if he was five or six shots better. There's a lot of golf left. This is a great place to post and hopefully they can stay close. I hope I can get hot tomorrow and give them a score to look at for a couple of hours.