Justin Thomas asked to see Michael Phelps’ gold medals … and he was rejected

PGA Tour press conferences mostly follow a routine, with familiar questions raised by Tour professionals answering with familiar answers. For the most part. Sometimes, however, as the session drags on, the conversation can meander. Even more so in the Covid-19 era on the PGA Tour, where the remote video conferencing format seems to inspire stranger questions and stranger answers.

It happened on Tuesday, when Justin Thomas asked for his pre-tournament presser at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Thomas asked questions on a variety of topics ranging from this week’s event, to what it’s like to be number 1 in the world, the coronavirus on Tour, the coronavirus in the MLB, being alone in the hotel and bunkering with Rickie Fowler, to name a few.

The most captivating part of the JT presser, however, was an anecdote that arose from a question regarding the postponed 2020 Olympics. Since the Games were originally supposed to happen this week, Thomas was asked if he had ever seen one of the three Olympic medals men’s golf courses from the 2016 Games. (He only saw one, Rose’s gold medal).

But then he was asked if he had seen other Olympic medals when JT dropped his most surprising answer on the American Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps. Here’s what JT said.

“I was once at Michael Phelps’ house and asked to see them and he refused to take them because then I would have known where they are,” said Thomas. “You would think that when you have so many, it would be just that you have one like hanging on the kitchen table or something, but apparently not. So it was a swing and a miss there. “

That’s right, Thomas asked to see Phelps’ gold medals while he was hanging up at his house, and Phelps rejected him in the face. As for Thomas, Phelps has a total of 28 Olympic medals in his possession, making him the most decorated Olympian of all time. Not to mention the fact that 23 of them are gold. So he has a lot to do.

But they are precious and highly sought after items that could hypothetically go for a lot of money on the black market. So Phelps is probably smart at keeping their hiding place hidden, even from famous athletes like Thomas.

Golf.com editor

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