PGA Tour Star Justin Thomas Spreads The Sun-Safety Gospel

Three years back, Justin Thomas, currently eighth in the Official World Golf Ranking, was faced with a melanoma scare. The two-time major champion spotted an unusual mole on his left calf and went for a check-up with his dermatologist. That evening at 9:30 p.m. he received a text from his doctor telling him to give him a call. That’s when JT’s fears were confirmed. He was told he had early-stage skin cancer.

Fortunately, the growth hadn’t yet spread and was surgically removed with no further complications. But the fifteen-time PGA Tour winner’s brush with the Big C was a wake-up call. Thomas posted his surgery scar on Instagram, urging his followers to get screened. A few months back he took his sun-safety advocacy even further by launching a sunscreen line called WearSPF.

“I realize I was very fortunate to catch it as early on as I did. This is an unbelievable time to use my platform to spread the word and not only among my friends and peers in golf. In launching WearSPF we are trying to spread the word throughout the world,” Thomas says.

“When I wear shorts, it looks like I got bitten by a shark. I wish I had a picture of what the mole looked like beforehand and how small it was because everyone is blown away and doesn’t believe it. When people think of skin cancer, they picture this massive something on their body that is so obvious to point out. This mole that I had was very, very small but I could just tell it looked weird. The colors weren’t the same, the edges were jagged and not circular and something about it didn’t look right,” he adds.

Every day professional golfers spend hours exposed to harmful ultra violet rays as they stride down fairways during tournament rounds and linger on driving ranges while honing shots. Thomas’ WearSPF collection doubles as a sun safety public service announcement with the brand’s messaging promoting wearing sunscreen—whether it’s their product or someone else’s.

Prioritizing the sun safety cause over profits has strong echoes of Patagonia’s famous ‘Don’t Buy this Jacket’ campaign. The outdoor clothing manufacturer encouraged consumers to support environmental efforts and keeping their carbon footprint in check by only buying what they need, while of course scoring huge public relations rewards in the process. That messaging resonated because there was an authentic connection with the brand’s eco-conscious history, and here the hope is JT’s impactful personal experience will help WearSPF soak up similar goodwill.

“Justin Thomas has created a brand that is a social cause in itself. Thomas has a compelling story of why wearing sunscreen is important to him. Given that he is in a sport with constant sun and he was diagnosed with skin cancer at a young age, there is an authenticity and urgency to his commitment,” Anjali S. Bal, an associate professor of marketing at Babson College, says.

“The name itself is a method of educating consumers. It acts as an informative call to action that tells his consumer exactly what he values,” she continues.

Thomas often finds himself advocating for sun-safety during practice rounds when his peers and playing partners invariably ask him about the large scar on his leg.

“I promise you there is not one person that I talk to about it that doesn’t leave questioning what they have been doing, whether that’s people who have never been to a dermatologist or haven’t been in X amount of years,” Thomas says, adding that early signs could be something you may not notice on your own unless you go get checked out.