Justin Thomas didn’t win the Truist Championship, but his game could be building toward something special next week. Converging trends would suggest it.

Thomas shared second place at 14 under at The Philadelphia Cricket Club, two back of winner Sepp Straka, another of many chances to win in 2025.

The Truist Championship marked Thomas’ sixth top-10 finish of the season, including a win at last month’s RBC Heritage, as he continues to display strong form into next week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club – the site of his first major title at the 2017 PGA. Thomas ranks third on the FedExCup, behind only Rory McIlroy and Straka.

After a statistical swoon in recent years, Thomas has quickly re-ascended into professional golf’s elite tier.

The RBC Heritage marked his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship, and the Truist is his third runner-up of the season (The American Express, Valspar Championship). Thomas might argue whether he was ever “gone,” but it’s safe to say he’s back.

Thomas trailed by three strokes into Sunday outside Philadelphia and made an early charge with three birdies in his first eight holes, moving within a stroke of the lead and keeping pressure on the final pairing of Straka and Shane Lowry (with whom Thomas eventually shared second place). He was stuck in neutral from there, though, with seven straight pars before a bogey at the par-3 16th and then a 12-foot birdie at the par-4 17th that maintained a flicker of hope to the par-4 finisher – where he missed the green left on his approach and did well to save par on a 10-footer.

Thomas had a birdie look from 3 feet, 9 inches at the par-5 15th, which would have tied the lead, but he pulled it left. That was as close as he got.

“It was a good day,” Thomas said afterward. “Obviously I gave myself a chance. Starting three back to have a putt on 15 to tie for the lead, I definitely would have taken that at the start of the day. … I fought hard, played well, and gave myself a chance, which is what I wanted.”

The Truist also marked the return of Thomas’ full-time caddie Matt Minister, who sat out the Masters and RBC Heritage to rehab a back injury – with Joe Greiner filling in for both weeks. The Thomas-Minister partnership didn’t miss a beat in its return, as Thomas continued to display the elite ball-striking that has framed his renaissance in recent months. Thomas ranked sixth for the week in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, gaining more than five strokes on the field. He also ranked 11th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee.

“I missed him every step of the way at Augusta and at Hilton Head,” Thomas said of Minister. “It would have been really cool to obviously win with the first week with him back. No, I know our time is coming. We've just got to keep our head down and keep doing what we're doing and just stay patient.”

The duo will spin that momentum to comforting environs at Quail Hollow, where Thomas won the 2017 PGA Championship (played in August) by two strokes at 8 under. The brawny venue showed its teeth that week with just 12 players finishing under par, and although the early-week forecast calls for heavy rains that could soften the course considerably, Quail Hollow will certainly reward a strong tee-to-green game.

Two years ago, Thomas missed the cut in three of four major championships and failed to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs. Last year, he missed the cut in two of four majors but placed T8 at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. The son of a teaching pro, Thomas has always relished the PGA Championship’s significance and challenge – which has complemented his strong play with eight made cuts in nine starts, including four top-10 finishes and victories in 2017 and 2022 (at Southern Hills in Oklahoma, where he rallied from a seven-stroke deficit into Sunday and defeated Will Zalatoris in a playoff).

There’s a strong slate of contenders into the season’s second major, and McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler comfortably outpace the field from a betting standpoint. But would anyone be surprised to see Thomas atop the board come Sunday at Quail Hollow? Not a chance.