Known for making questionable comments, Talor Gooch recently said a Masters won by Rory McIlroy would need an asterisk due to the lack of LIV Golf players in the field.

McIlroy took the high road with his response, but Justin Thomas appeared to send a subtle shot back at Gooch ahead of this week’s 2024 Players Championship.

In the past some have referred to the Players as the fifth major in men’s golf and the annual event at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, has been billed as the deepest field in golf. Thomas, a 15-time winner on Tour and 2021 Players champion, was asked whether or not the event’s status still stands without the players who left for LIV Golf.

Players: Tournament hub | Picks to win, odds

“I mean, it’s still been the best field in golf for many previous years. Yeah, you could always make an argument that there’s other tournaments that are or are not,” Thomas explained. “The PGA Championship has been the deepest field in terms of the most top 100 players, and I’m not just saying that for selfish reasons, it’s just the truth.”

“I know what you mean in terms of how World Ranking and guys that are or aren’t on the TOUR anymore, but that’s just kind of the reality that — and what they have put themselves in, and, yeah, I mean, I’m not going to have an asterisk next to my name for winning this because the field wasn’t too good, right.”

Thomas is in the marquee group alongside Scottie Scheffler and Rickie Fowler in the first two rounds and begins the week at 1:40 p.m. ET on Thursday.