Justin Thomas explains why he wore wrist tape at The Open Championship

Justin Thomas stepped onto the first tee at Royal Birkdale on Thursday with a strip of tape wrapped around his left wrist: and afterward he explained why.

**Justin Thomas shot an even-par 70 in the first round of The Open Championship on 17 July 2026 at Royal Birkdale**, using wrist tape to protect against the firm conditions. The two-time major winner has played the last three majors without cracking the top 40, but his focus now shifts to building momentum at the season’s final major.

What happened?

Thomas opened with a steady round at Royal Birkdale, where the turf was firm and the wind gusty. He finished level par with 70, staying patient through both nines. The tape wasn’t new: he’s used it on and off all year: but the firm turf at Southport pushed him to keep it on.

“Off and on a little this year,” Thomas said when asked about the tape. “To be honest, it’s just the turf is really, really firm over here. It hasn’t hurt me at all.”

Why it matters for Justin Thomas

The tape wasn’t masking pain: it was preventative. Thomas even tested the idea last week by skipping the tape for a day. “I even tried last week one day not taping it,” he said. “I was like, what do you think, to the physio. He’s like, just tape it.”

That exchange sums up Thomas’s season so far: small tweaks, steady play, but results that haven’t matched his form. He’s made 13 PGA Tour starts in 2026, with one missed cut, one top five, and two top 10s. His best stretch came when he contended in multiple events back-to-back.

“It’s been solid,” Thomas said. “I haven’t had kind of the results and I feel like gotten as much out of my game as I could have result-wise, but I had a nice stretch there where I feel like contended two, three, four weeks in a row there.”

What comes next?

Thomas isn’t taking three weeks off before the playoffs. He wants to stay sharp heading into Memphis, even if it means skipping the Presidents Cup prep. His focus stays on The Open, where he’ll try to turn his recent major finishes around.

He opened with T41 at The Masters, T4 at the PGA Championship, and T17 at the US Open. Now, at Royal Birkdale, he’s looking to build on those scores.

Conditions didn’t help anyone on Thursday. Stewart Cink, playing alongside Thomas, was shocked by the firm turf and the wind. For Thomas, the tape was just part of the adjustment.

Right now, his goal is simple: keep ticking over, stay patient, and turn his recent contending stretches into trophies before the year ends.