Justin Thomas is Excited to Bring Back The Skins Game in a Modern Way

If you’ve been living under a rock, let me catch you up on something pretty exciting going down on Black Friday. The iconic Skins Game is back!

Yes, the event that featured some of the biggest names to ever pick up a club, including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player, is making its return on November 28 at Panther National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

If that course sounds familiar to you, it should. Panther National was designed by Justin Thomas, his first architectural project, and Nicklaus and has been featured a few times in the YouTube golf space. Bob Does Sports took on Xander Schauffele down there, and Grant Horvat played a match against Thomas at the track he helped make a reality.

Recently, Thomas joined The Drop, a show by the PGA TOUR, and was pumped to be one of the players bringing the Skins Game back in a modern way.

“I’m excited. (The younger generation) didn’t get to watch too many of these live. We’re probably catching the end of them. So, obviously being a golf fan, to know all about them and know how iconic they were to the game of golf. The players they got to play. It was incredible. The places they got to play. I think it’s, it’s kind of—in this day and age it seems like it fits the mold pretty well of what fans want and the type of access that they’ll have. The excitement, the mic’d up and all that kind of stuff. We obviously have a great group of guys playing. It’s going to be cool, especially being part of it.”

Skins Game: Format, Field, How to Watch

Via Getty Images

As for his Panther National, Thomas thinks variety is going to make things interesting in this particular format.

“I think it offers a variety of options of, you know—you have some risk-reward holes, some getable, easy birdie holes, and then you have some holes that are going to play very difficult and very long,” Thomas said.

If you tip it out, Panther National, which opened in 2023, can play close to 8,000 yards, so when JT said some holes will play long, we wasn't lying. All four par 5s are 575 yards or longer, and the 11th is 654! Three of the four par 3s are also beasts, measuring in at 230 (second hole), 230 (13th), and 246 (15th). Speaking as a four handicap, that sounds like a nightmare.

Image via Panther National

On top of the championship golf course, Panther National features a par-3 course, the Panther9, that includes an island green inspired by the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. It also has a world-class practice facility and an acre-sized putting course dubbed "The Cub." (It's 18-hole course sibling is named "Big Cat" aligning with the Panther theme).

Its ambassador program is loaded with the game's best players, including Nicklaus, Thomas, Schauffele, Cameron Young, Sahith Theegala, Viktor Hovland, and Lexi Thompson.

Image via Panther National

When asked who he’s particularly looking forward to taking down, Thomas laughed and said, “Obviously, excited in the competitive side to try to beat all of them.”

Schauffele, Tommy Fleetwood, and Keegan Bradley are the other three players that round out the foursome, so I’m sure the Englishman is already loaded up with some Ryder Cup trash talk after what unfolded at Bethpage Black.

Prime Video will be bringing you all the action on November 28, so make sure to set a reminder. This is going to be a blast.