The PGA Tour’s offseason lasted for all of 17 days between the final round of the Tour Championship and the first tee shot of this week’s A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, but three of golf’s biggest names required serious medical attention.
Both Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson went under the knife to have arthroscopic surgery on one of their knees to repair damaged cartilage, but Justin Thomas revealed on Thursday that he may have had the biggest scare of all.
Posting to Instagram a picture of his leg that had been operated on, Thomas explained that a routine trip to the dermatologist resulted in a small mole on his left leg was found to be in the early stages of melanoma.
“I recently had a scare at the dermatologist where a very small mole on my left leg was caught in the early stages of melanoma,” Thomas captioned the photo. “Luckily, we found it at a time where there should be no problems going forward.
“That being said, EVERYBODY GO GET CHECKED!! No harm can come from it and it’s the best way to catch anything before it becomes a serious issue. Especially for all the junior golfers (and other athletes) spending so much time in the sun. It is so important to make sure you’re monitoring your body – no matter how old you are or how much sunscreen you use.
“It really got my attention, and hoping it does the same to y’all!”
Melanoma is a form of skin cancer that arises when pigment-producing cells—known as melanocytes—mutate and become cancerous, according to MedicalNewsToday.com.
“Golfers have always been at greater risk of developing skin cancer than people who never go outside or visit tanning parlors, but even among nongolfers the incidence has been rising for years, worldwide,” a June GolfDigest.com article by David Owen reported. “Studies cited by the Skin Cancer Foundation have shown that, in the United States, cases of nonmelanoma skin cancer increased by 77 percent from 1994 to 2014, and that there will be 7.7 percent more melanoma cases this year than there were in 2018.”
