Nick Saban opens up on relationship with Justin Thomas, pride in Alabama being represented at PGA Championship

Alabama head coach Nick Saban joined Joe Buck and Michael Collins on the broadcast of the PGA Championship’s third round as former Crimson Tide golfer Justin Thomas continued his strong performance into Saturday morning.

The ‘Bama headman, who helped bring Thomas to Tuscaloosa over a decade ago, raved about how well the former National Player of the Year has been doing since leaving the program after the 2012-2013 season.

“We just love Justin, he’s a great person,” Saban said about Thomas. “Obviously he’s represented our institution in a first class way in everything that he’s done. It’s kind of fun when you see a guy come out of high school, you help recruit them, and you see him develop while he’s here at Alabama and then he goes on and has great success on the tour. That makes us very proud.”

Thomas sits in third place (-6) in the PGA Championship leaderboards through two and a half rounds, trailing only Will Zalatoris (-9) and Mito Pereira (-8). The rest of the Saturday’s action can be viewed on ESPN and ESPN+.

Nick Saban opens up about his recent experience at the Masters Tournament

Nick Saban made a surprise trip to the home state of his bitter rival last week — but he admits that Augusta National is one of the is favorite golf courses in the world. The Alabama Crimson Tide coach wanted to show support for PGA pro Justin Thomas, who spent his one year of college playing in Tuscaloosa. 

Saban recently shared his experience at the 2022 Masters, while opening up about his admiration for the former Alabama golfer who is considered one of the top PGA players on tour. 

“Well, it was a fun day,” the Alabama head football coach said. “It’s a great place with unique tradition, I know how much this tournament means to a lot of players, I know how much it means to JT to have the opportunity to compete in a major.” 

While the Alabama coach clearly doesn’t lead the golf team for Alabama, he has openly shared his passion for the game and has been known to hit the course in the offseason. 

Saban even revealed that he helped recruit him to come to Tuscaloosa as a golfer coming out of high school. 

“It’s been really interesting to watch him,” Nick Saban added. “From being a high school player that we were involved in recruiting and followed him obviously through his career here, and now he’s a pro player. I don’t get many opportunities to get to see him, so it was really great to see those guys, you know it’s amazing how they can hit it.”