It might be ridiculous to call a 31-year-old’s form “vintage” but Justin Thomas left us no choice in the second round of the Zozo Championship in Japan.

On Friday at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, 90 minutes outside Tokyo, he looked like the Thomas of old. You know, the 15-time PGA Tour winner who was never afraid to go low. He flighted soft-arm wedge shots, rolled in mid-range putts and nearly holed a 5-iron for an albatross at the par-5 18th. Thomas settled for eagle and a six-under-par 64. At 10 under, he lurked ominously two shots off the lead with 36 holes to play.

Nico Echavarria (64) took the 36-hole lead at 12 under, while Taylor Moore (67) joined Thomas at 10 under. Eric Cole (67), Seamus Power (62) and C.T. Pan (66) shared fourth at nine under while Rickie Fowler (64) and Max Greyserman (68) were eight under.

Thomas, playing for the first time since the Tour Championship in August, was even nonchalant about a bogey-free round that launched him into contention. “It didn’t honestly feel [I did] a lot,” he said. “I felt like I maybe played a little better yesterday, as weird as it is.”

Perhaps it was because every part of his game seemed dialed. Thomas led the 78-player Zozo field in par-5 scoring, three-putt avoidance, bogey avoidance (he has just one through the opening two rounds) and strokes gained/tee-to-green.

He pulled out his brilliant best on the last hole—a 5-iron from 214 yards which threatened the hole and settled a few feet away. “I just took a little bit off of a 5-iron and cut it off the left center of the green,” he said. “I think hitting it in there to four feet was a bonus, but that’s the advantage of soft greens and hitting a good shot.”

220 yards ➡️ 3 feet@JustinThomas34 closes with an impressive eagle to move 2 back of the lead @ZOZOCHAMP. pic.twitter.com/HR6UlEv6zN

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 25, 2024

The only problem is, Thomas hasn’t won in 29 months and the two-time major champ is not used to victory droughts. He won on the PGA Tour at least once in every year from 2015 to 2022—and then he stopped winning. His last trophy happened to be the Wanamaker, for a second time, at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

But it’s not for a lack of trying. Thomas had five top-10s in 2024, including a T-8 at the PGA at Valhalla in his home state of Kentucky.

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There’s also the fact that this start will be his last before his wife, Jillian, is due to deliver their first child, a girl, late next month.

“I’m eager to win any tournament, I always want to,” said Thomas, who has won four PGA Tour events held in Asia, but never Japan. “When things are going well, you feel like you should do that quite often and every year, but it’s just the reality of how difficult the sport is.

“I think the tour is quite a bit deeper than even when I first came out. You have a lot of guys that are freakishly talented and have no fear and are hungry to win like all of us are.”

How hungry? We’ll find out over the closing rounds in Japan.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com