| Venue: Oak Hill Country Club, New York Dates: 18-21 May |
| Coverage: Live text commentary of all four rounds on BBC Sport website from 13:00 BST on Thursday, 18 May. Radio 5 Live Extra commentary from 21:00 on Saturday, 20 May and Radio 5 Live commentary from 20:40 on Sunday, 21 May |
Justin Thomas says he is “seeing light at the end of the tunnel” as he bids to defend his US PGA Championship title this week at Oak Hill in New York.
The American world number 13 has had only one top-five finish this year and missed the cut at the Masters in April.
However, he was joint 14th at Quail Hollow two weeks ago – the site of his first US PGA victory in 2017.
“How you learn is failure and negatives and I’ve had a great opportunity for a lot of learning,” said the 30-year-old.
“There are going to be days where 70 might be the best that I have that day, but it’s better than 71. Or 75 might be the best I have, but it’s better than 76. That’s just kind of how I have always been taught.
“How I described it for a couple months is, I’ve never felt so far and so close at the same time.
“That is a hard thing to explain, and it’s also a very hard way to try to compete and win a golf tournament.”
Thomas credits his third round at Quail Hollow as proving that he is returning to form at the right time.
“I showed a lot of really good signs in Charlotte,” he said. “Saturday was a great example. It just was a round where I didn’t really have very much. I felt like I left a couple of shots out there putting-wise and just wasn’t sharp.
“I was hitting a lot of very poor wedges and irons. I birdied two of the last four holes and salvaged an under-par round on a tough golf course.
“That 70 gave me an opportunity to play myself into contention with nine holes left. I felt I turned a little bit of a corner.”
Thomas won last year’s title by beating Will Zalatoris in a play-off after a final-round charge that saw him come from seven shots back, but he insisted that victory will have little bearing on this week.
“It’s so long ago in terms of your golf game,” said the two-time major winner.
“The feelings can translate and the memories can translate, but a lot of things – swings and putts and chips – have happened since then. That part is hard to relate.”
Oak Hill Country Club, which has hosted three US Opens, is staging its fourth US PGA Championship and in 1995 was the scene of only the second away Ryder Cup victory by Europe.
