Justin Thomas has lost his sponsorship with Ralph Lauren after he was overheard making a homophobic slur over a missed putt.

Justin Thomas shocked many golf fans when his mike picked him up using a homophobic curse during the third round of last weekend's Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

Following this incident, it was announced yesterday (Friday, January 15) that Justin had lost his sponsorship with fashion company Ralph Lauren.

A statement by Ralph Lauren read: “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.

“In reflecting on the responsibility we have to all of our stakeholders, we have decided to discontinue our sponsorship of Mr. Thomas at this time. As we make this decision, our hope is that Mr. Thomas does the hard and necessary work in order to partner with us again – truly examining this incident, learning, growing and ultimately using his platform to promote inclusion.”

The 27-year-old Thomas has been sponsored by Ralph Lauren since 2013. Titleist, FootJoy, NetJets and Citi are among his other sponsors and so far there have been no reports that they are planning on following suit and withdrawing their sponsorship of him too.

The former World Number 1.did apologise profusely after the incident, saying he didn't realise that his mike had picked it up until after he had finished playing.

"First off, I just apologize. 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 or anything that I do," he said after his third round.

"Unfortunately, I did it, and I have to own up to it, and I'm very apologetic. "I need to do better; I need to be better. It's definitely a learning experience. I just ... I deeply apologise to everybody and anybody who I offended, and I'll be better because of it."

The golfer is still scheduled to play next week in the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.