JUSTIN THOMAS has vowed to ‘become better’ after his ‘terrible judgement call’ when making a homophobic slur.
The American golfer used the highly-offensive term ‘f****t’ when he missed a putt at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
And his foul language was picked up by microphones on the course on Saturday night.
He admitted the controversy was a huge distraction for him in Sunday’s final round, despite staying in contention for a third victory at Kapalua until a bogey at the 17th left him needing an eagle at the last to match Joaquin Niemann’s 25 under par.
Thomas ended up settling for a birdie and outright third, but afterwards all he could think about was providing another apology over his antics the previous day.
He said: “Golf wasn’t the main thing on my mind today. Usually, being four back going into Sunday I’m thinking about one thing and one thing only and that’s trying to win the golf tournament.
“But I obviously had a lot of other things on my mind last night. I mean, I apologised yesterday. I don’t need to explain myself. I clearly screwed up. I made a terrible, terrible judgment call.
“But I thought a lot last night that we grow a lot as people over time. I wish that I could learn to grow a different way than the way that I chose to do it, but unfortunately it’s in the past and there’s nothing I can do about it now.
“And, again, it definitely was a distraction out there today. But now I just get to take time going forward and try to become better because of it.”
The world No 3 had instantly apologised after his round on Saturday and admitted he felt ’embarrassed’ by his actions.
Thomas, 27, said: “It’s inexcusable. First off, I just apologise. I’m an adult. I’m a grown man.
“There’s absolutely no reason for me to say anything like that. It’s terrible. I’m extremely embarrassed.
“It’s not who I am, it’s not the kind of person that I am or anything that I do.
“Unfortunately, I did it, and I have to own up to it, and I’m very apologetic. It’s bad. There’s no other way to put it.
“I need to do better, I need to be better. It’s definitely a learning experience.
“I deeply apologise to everybody and anybody who I offended, and I’ll be better because of it.”
The PGA Tour also slammed Thomas’ comment as ‘unacceptable’ in a statement.
ESPN reported that Thomas is likely to be fined by the PGA Tour for his conduct.
