JT reacts to lip-out hole-in-one and discusses Dunlap ties

While Nick Dunlap has garnered the spotlight through three rounds of The American Express, fellow Alabama product Justin Thomas is in solo third place and seeking his first PGA Tour title in 20 months.

Thomas shot 11-under 61 to reach 23 under par, four shots back of Dunlap, a sophomore for the Crimson Tide.

While they share college ties, Thomas has never played with Dunlap. He’ll rectify that on Sunday at the Pete Dye Stadium Course when the two join Sam Burns (solo second, three back) in the final group.

While Thomas is only familiar with Dunlap from afar, he knows Dunlap’s caddie well. Hunter Hambrick was a senior on the 2012 Alabama team that featured a freshman Thomas and finished runner-up for the national championship.

“Yeah, Ham Bones, he was one of my best friends in college. We roomed together every single week. We hung out a lot. We did a lot of stuff together,” Thomas said. “So, yeah, we actually, I hadn’t seen him in a long time, and we were able to catch up early this week and so it looks like we’ll have 18 holes to chat a little tomorrow.”

Thomas is looking to improve upon his 28^th position in the Official World Golf Ranking and lock up spots in the seven remaining signature events.

The 15-time Tour winner would love to repeat his Saturday performance on the Stadium Course, where he had 11 birdies and no bogeys. One of those birdies came from a 6-inch tap-in at the par-3 13^th. Thomas lipped out a hole-in-one, and after his round got a chance to watch the video.

His reaction said it all.

“That is so cruel,” he said. “What’s funny is, Bones [caddie Jim Mackay] and I were walking up there, and we saw the ace yesterday [by Joe Highsmith], and it was obviously a great shot, but going 20, 30 feet past, and that one does that. Oh well, good 2. One and a half.”