DUBLIN, Ohio – It wasn’t easy, but Justin Thomas opted for the long road to recovery.

Thomas returns to the PGA Tour this week at the Memorial Tournament, which will be his first start since the Masters. A nagging right-wrist injury led to Thomas missing the PGA Championship as well as the Wells Fargo Championship, and last week’s Charles Schwab Challenge.

“It was really hard [not playing],” Thomas said. “Missing Quail Hollow was a no-brainer, I could have played the PGA but I probably would have injured it more and the same with last week. I knew if I gave it another week it was never going to be an issue again so I just let it heal.”

Thomas, who was told the recovery would take anywhere from a month to two months, said he has no pain or limitations with his wrist.

Following an MRI two weeks prior to the PGA Championship, Thomas was allowed to begin chipping and putting and his rehabilitation moved along quickly after that.

“I learned from it. I learned different things about the body that you can maybe do differently next time to try to speed up the process,” he said. “I was lucky it wasn’t anything bad and I just had to be smart with it and not injure it more.”