Justin Thomas Fully Aware, Rightfully Concerned About Potentially Not Making U.S. Ryder Cup Team

Published|Updated

Justin Thomas is fully aware that he may be in the middle of the worst slump of his professional career. After all, he is the one hitting the golf shots and signing the scorecards at the end of each round.

Unfortunately for him, this rough patch has reared its ugly head during a Ryder Cup year, and JT is running out of time to turn things around.

Having missed the cut in two of the year's first three majors to go along with a lowly T-65 finish at the PGA Championship, this week's Open Championship at Hoylake seemed like the last real chance to make his case that he deserves a spot on the U.S. team.

After shooting 82-71 on Thursday and Friday he finished well outside the Top 100 in the field and missed the cut. The missed cut stings that much more given he's on the outside looking in when it comes to the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

To put it mildly, JT's current chances of being a captain's pick for this Fall's Ryder Cup in Rome are bleak, and he's well aware of that reality.

"Yeah, obviously," he told the media at The Open after being asked if he was concerned about missing the Ryder Cup. "I want to make the Ryder Cup more than anything. I'm probably honestly trying too hard to do it."

"It reminds me a lot of my first or second year on tour. I've tried so hard to make that team for the first time. I'm in a very similar position. I've been trying to make it easy on Zach and get in the top six, but I seem to not want to do that with my golf."

Justin Thomas may not make the Ryder Cup team, despite his stellar record in the competition. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Justin Thomas' Two Résumés Would Make His Potential Ryder Cup Absence Tough To Swallow

What's going to make things that much more difficult for U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson is that Thomas essentially has two different résumés, what he's done this year on Tour and what he's done while representing the United States.

Since the calendar flipped to 2023, Thomas has managed just five Top 20 finishes to go along with his lone made cut in the four major championships. Just looking at a few of his lowly statistics, Thomas ranks 112th on Tour in greens in regulation percentage, 152nd in strokes gained: putting, and 74th in total driving. It's simply not good.

Thomas turns into a different player when he has 'USA' written across his hat, however.

The 30-year-old is 6-2-1 over the course of his two Ryder Cup appearances and a ridiculous 10-3-2 in his three Presidents Cup appearances. He's been the best American player across both competitions over the course of the last decade.

The last decade, however, is in the past.

Thomas, currently 13th in U.S. team standings, hasn't shown any reason to believe he'll be able to flip a switch and ignore the demons he's currently battling even though he may feel most comfortable in the Ryder Cup team setting.

Follow Mark Harris on Twitter @ItIsMarkHarris

Tags
Written by

Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.