Justin Thomas breaks his silence for the first time since losing sponsors

World No. 3 Justin Thomas on Wednesday broke his silence and spoke publicly for the first time since losing his Ralph Lauren sponsorship last week due to the controversy of using a homophobic slur publicly.

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While making his first public appearance ahead of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the golfer told reporters: “I’m clearly beyond (not) proud of what I said.”

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“It’s humiliating. It’s embarrassing. It’s not me. It’s not a word that I use but for some reason, it was in there and that’s what I’m trying to figure out as to why it was in there.”

On Friday, Ralph Lauren released a statement announcing that they have parted ways with the golfer after the incident. However, the door is open or Thomas to re-join the brand if he “does the hard and necessary work” to grow from the incident.

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“It’s going to be a part of this process or training program or whatever I need to do not only to prove to myself and prove to my sponsors and prove to those people who don’t know who I am but that’s indeed not the person I am,” Thomas said.

Thomas will be participating in the first round at Abu Dhabi Golf Club Thursday morning alongside Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood.