Justin Thomas issues brutal dig at Charles Barkley | Golf News

Justin Thomas is making his PGA Tour comeback at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and he acquired a playful welcome back to Bay Hill with a tongue-in-cheek press convention query from Charles Barkley.

However, Thomas, who has been sidelined since the season’s start following back surgical procedure, delivered a sharp comeback to the NBA legend after Barkley tried to needle the two-time major winner about his alma mater, Alabama, being knocked out of the College Football Playoff by Indiana on New Year’s Day during the Hoosiers’ run to the national championship.

Auburn graduate Barkley was current at Bay Hill on Wednesday after collaborating in the pro-am alongside Keegan Bradley, and he seized the second to playfully jab at Thomas.

“We’re glad to have you back,” Barkley said from the back row of the media middle.

“My question is, first of all, he lied, you don’t know how to read. You went to Alabama. But my question is, when Alabama was getting rolled by Indiana, where exactly were you at?”

Thomas attended the Crimson Tide for two years, incomes the Haskins and Jack Nicklaus awards, given to faculty golf’s top participant. He also secured a workforce national championship in 2013 before going professional.

The Tide’s crushing playoff loss to Indiana clearly bothered the 32-year-old, but he crafted the right retort to Barkley’s ribbing, poking enjoyable at the previous NBA MVP for his incapability to seize the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.

“I was at home. Yeah, I was at home, probably just looking at my phone, waiting for some kind of sarcastic text from you, or, all of a sudden, all of these huge Indiana football fans that were friends of mine that I had no idea about,” Thomas shared.

“So, yeah, I should have reached out to you [to ask] how you deal with big losses like that. I mean, you’ve gone through that more than I have, so I should have just asked you.”

Barkley, realizing he’d been bested, might only reply with “that was well played” before the press convention concluded.