Justin Thomas smelled like ‘a wet dog’ after muddy mishap at RBC Heritage

Justin Thomas’ 11th hole took a muddy turn Saturday at RBC Heritage.

After the golfer’s tee shot landed in an area with shallow water, he opted to hit his shot from that area instead of taking a one-stroke penalty — and ended up splashing water and mud all over himself.

“Didn’t really seem worth it after that,” he joked.

Everything started when Thomas and his temporary caddie, Joe Greiner, removed a signpost warning about alligators from the ground, laying it down and clearing a path for his shot.

Then, he lined up the ball in the water — the top of the ball was just poking out from the marshy area — and attempted the shot, only for it to leave the water, travel just feet in front of him onto the grass and leave a collection of mud everywhere.

Thomas proceeded to wipe his arms with a towel before bogeying the hole, and he joked to reporters following his round that Greiner told him he smelled like a “wet dog.”

“It really was, I felt like, my only bad swing of the day,” Thomas told reporters about his first shot on the 11th hole. “I thought I hit it so bad that it was going to be short of the water, and it just got in there. Usually when you can see the ball like that, at least from past watching experience, it’s not too difficult to get it out as long as you kind of accelerate through. 

“I said to Joe after the fact, I don’t know if I’ve actually ever hit one out of the water. So I definitely wasn’t going to say that beforehand. I think I got a little too deep and went like right under it in the water and mud and whatnot. Just kind of pushed it out.”

Thomas, who opened the tournament with a 61, shot a second consecutive 69, and through 15 holes Sunday, he has a one-shot lead over Andrew Novak at 17-under.

If Thomas can escape with a win, he’d end a three-year title drought that dates back to his PGA Championship win in May 2022.