OAKMONT, Pa. — Last week, a thought popped into Justin Thomas’ head. He knew it was far-fetched, maybe even crazy, but on Monday at the U.S. Open, he had no trouble admitting that it had crossed his mind: What would he have to do to catch world no. 1 Scottie Scheffler?

“I’m sure some people will laugh,” Thomas said, prefacing his remark. “But [I thought] can I catch him this year?”

At first glance, Thomas is closer than most. The two-time major winner has jumped back up to no. 5 in the official world golf rankings this season. But the gap between Scheffler and even world no. 2 Rory McIlroy is so large (239 points, to be exact) that even the most competitive golfers in the world can be honest about where they stand.

“Maybe Scottie doesn’t play or something,” Thomas, who is nearly 500 points behind Scheffler in the rankings, said with a smile. “You can’t really catch that if he keeps doing what he’s doing.”

Such is life with Scheffler on top of the golf world.

Despite a slow start to his 2025 season, Scheffler has kicked his game into high gear over the past two and a half months. Since the end of March, Scheffler’s worst finish is a tie for eighth at the RBC Heritage, which Thomas won. Scheffler has six top-5 finishes, has won three times in his last four starts — including at last month’s PGA Championship — and is the prohibitive favorite this week at Oakmont.

“It’s effortless. Every single aspect of his game is unbelievable,” Thomas said. “I think his mental game is better than anybody out here. To be able to play with those expectations and to stay present as often as he has to me is maybe more impressive than even the golf he’s playing. He just doesn’t make any mistakes and almost kind of lets himself be in contention versus forces himself in contention.”

It’s that last part that Thomas himself is trying to work on. He admitted that in recent tournaments he’s allowed himself to be in contention during the first two rounds before trying to force it on the weekend. Thomas has six top-10 finishes this year, including a win, but he finished T-36 at the Masters and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. In fact, since 2013, Thomas has missed six of 10 cuts at majors.

What Scheffler has seemingly perfected is what Thomas knows he needs to do to even begin thinking about shrinking the gap between them. The tantalizing part is that the 32-year-old Thomas has been there before — twice. In 2018, he was no. 1 for four weeks, and he returned to the top spot in 2020 for five weeks. The biggest obstacle now, however, isn’t just himself or the state of his game, but rather the player who has become golf’s standard.

“It’s still on the forefront of my mind, and it’s something that I’m working toward,” Thomas said. “I obviously can’t do anything about what [Scheffler] is doing, and he doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down or wanting to. Just try to win some tournaments, and hopefully get close sooner rather than later.”