Ryder Cup: Justin Thomas ready to repay Team USA support after captain's pick from Zach Johnson
Justin Thomas was named captain's pick by Zach Johnson for Team USA, despite a disappointing year on the PGA Tour; Thomas makes a third consecutive Ryder Cup appearance, live on Saturday from 6am on Sky Sports Golf
By Ali Stafford in Rome
Last Updated: 27/09/23 8:39am
Justin Thomas admitted he thought he may have missed out on this year’s Ryder Cup before earning a captain’s pick from Zach Johnson to feature in Rome.
Thomas is without a win since May 2022 and struggled for form during large parts of the season, missing the cut in three of the four majors and only sneaking through to the weekend in his PGA Championship title defence.
The former world No 1 missed on qualifying for the FedExCup Playoffs and was reliant on one of Johnson's six picks to complete Team USA's line-up for Marco Simone GC, with Thomas pleased to have the backing of his captain despite his controversial selection.
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"I stayed away from social media and stayed away from stuff online because I knew nothing good was going to come from it," said Thomas.
"The only thing that mattered to me was that Zach [Johnson] and the vice captains and, at that time, other six guys on the team wanted me on the team.
"Zach [Johnson] and I had had discussions whenever it was before the picks and what I told him, is 'obviously, of course, I want to be on the team, yeah, I think that I can compete and that I can go out there and I can do great for the team. But at the end of the day, if the six guys in that room don't think that I'm what's best for the team, then I don't deserve to go.'
"That's been my thought the whole time and I'm very glad that they did and do have faith in me. Now that I'm here, all of us hold the same weight as the other one. We are all one, and it's just our job to go out there and try to win points."
Thomas finished tied-12th at the Wyndham Championship to narrowly miss out on extending his season and then finished fifth at the Fortinet Championship earlier this month, with the two-time major winner admitting the Ryder Cup was a bigger target than his PGA Tour ranking.
"I had just fully accepted that whatever was going to happen was going to happen," Thomas added. "Obviously I was going to be happy or upset one way or the other.
"I was putting so much emphasis and so much pressure on trying to play well to make the Ryder Cup, as opposed to trying to make the Playoffs, which is a wild concept, but unfortunately just the way my mind was working. I don't know what it was.
"I just, for some reason, that next week after the Wyndham, when those the guys were in Memphis [first FedExCup Playoff], I was off. I wasn't losing sleep at night thinking, 'oh, if I had done this differently or I could have done that differently and so on and so forth'. Just glad it worked out the way it did."
Spieth: Thomas 'loves' Ryder Cup challenge
Jordan Spieth, who has been a playing partner of Thomas in past Ryder Cups and Presidents Cup, believes his team-mate can play a key role for Team USA and has backed him to relish the chance to impress in Rome.
"I think he's kind of turned into a backbone for the USA Ryder Cup team," Spieth said about Thomas. "I'm sure if you asked him, he said he didn't think he was going to be on and I think would he have and maybe even already accepted that to a degree.
"I think he's going to embrace the opportunity. He worked really hard on a lot of things. I think he was able to try that out and had success with it a couple weeks ago.
"The elevated pressure and honestly the away games and kind of the opportunity to go like that, like he does, and to raise the crowd up, the home crowd, but also to quiet one and upset them here, he loves doing that.
"It creates maybe just a little extra level of focus for him. I've been beside him for these Ryder Cups and he quite simply plays better golf than the guys across from him."
Live coverage from the opening day of the Ryder Cup begins on Friday September 29 from 6am on Sky Sports Golf, while live programming begins on Monday September 25. Stream the PGA Tour, DP Tour, Ryder Cup and more with NOW.
