Ralph Lauren drops golfer Justin Thomas for using homophobic curse after missing putt

• Ralph Lauren announced it was terminating its sponsorship of Justin Thomas after the golfer was picked up uttering a homophobic slur during the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
• Thomas made a formal apology for using the term after missing a putt in the third round of the tournament.
• He is expected to receive a fine from the PGA Tour.

The Ralph Lauren Corporation has dropped Justin Thomas from its list of sponsored athletes after the golfer used a homophobic slur during the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

In a statement released Friday, the famous American clothing company said that it believes in "the dignity of all people, regardless of age, race, gender identity, ethnicity, political affiliation or sexual orientation."

It continued: "We are disheartened by Mr. Thomas's recent language, which is entirely inconsistent with our values. While we acknowledge that he has apologized and recognizes the severity of his words, he is a paid ambassador of our brand and his actions conflict with the inclusive culture that we strive to uphold."

The statement concluded saying that in ending its sponsorship with the golfer, it hoped Thomas "does the hard and necessary work in order to partner with us again."

The incident occurred when Thomas missed a four-foot putt for par on the fourth hole at Kapalua in Hawaii and a Golf Channel microphone picked up the world No. 3 uttering an anti-gay slur under his breath. The footage was subsequently shared on social media.

At the end of the round, Thomas made a formal apology on Golf Channel, saying: "There's just no excuse. I'm an adult, I'm a grown man. There's absolutely no reason for me to say anything like that.

"It's terrible. I'm extremely embarrassed. It's not who I am. It's not the kind of person that I am. But it's … unfortunately I did it and I have to own up to it and I'm very apologetic."

He added: "There's no other way to put it. I need to do better. I need to be better. It's definitely a learning experience. I deeply apologize to anyone and everybody who I offended and I'll be better because of it."

—Oma Golf (@oma_golf) January 10, 2021

The PGA Tour also released a statement in which it said it agreed with Thomas' sentiment that his comment "was unacceptable," AFP news agency reported. AFP added that it was likely Thomas will face a fine for his language.

Thomas, who was defending champion of the tournament, finished in third place on Saturday behind Harris English and Joaquin Niemann at 24-under. Thomas later told Golf Channel that the incident had been a "distraction" on the final day of play.

"Golf wasn't the main thing on my mind. Usually being four back going into Sunday I'm thinking about one thing and one thing only and that's trying to win the golf tournament," Thomas said.

"Obviously had a lot of other things on my mind last night. I mean, I apologized yesterday. I don't need to explain myself. I clearly screwed up. I made a terrible, terrible judgment call.

"But I thought a lot (Saturday) night that, we grow a lot as people over time. I wish that I could learn to grow a different way than the way that I chose to do it, but unfortunately, it's in the past and there's nothing I can do about it now.

"It definitely was a distraction out there today. But now I just get to take time going forward and try to become better because of it."