PITTSFORD, N.Y. – If you would have asked Justin Thomas a month ago if he felt like he was in a slump, his answer would have been a begrudged “probably.”

Never mind that he hadn’t missed a cut on the PGA Tour this year and he had just a single finish outside the top 25, his swing wasn’t right and he wasn’t showing up at events with confidence he could win.

“It's terrible. I described it for a couple months is I've never felt so far and so close at the same time. That's a very hard thing to explain, and it's also a very hard way to try to compete and win a golf tournament,” he said Monday ahead of his PGA Championship title defense.

Part of Thomas’ concerns was a slight swing adjustment that just wasn’t working and part was poor putting, but his ball striking has steadily been improving as evidenced by his play two weeks ago at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he picked up more than four shots in strokes gained: approach the green, and he’s simplified his approach to putting using the AimPoint method.

All that remains now is for the results to follow but Thomas said he understands that takes time.

“That's how you get out of it, just playing your way out of it and hitting the shots when you want to and making those putts when you need to, and then your confidence builds back up, and next thing you know, you don't even remember what you were thinking in those times,” he said.