Justin Thomas Is No Lock for This Year's U.S. Ryder Cup Team

The two-time major champ has been solid in U.S. team play for years but his current form may give Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson pause.

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The notion of Justin Thomas not being part of the U.S. Ryder Cup team would have been laughable at the start of this year. The two-time major champ has been one of the more solid performers at both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup going back to his first appearance in 2017, and his partnership with Jordan Spieth gives the U.S. team a solid pairing that would make life easy for captain Zach Johnson.

But is there a chance Thomas is playing himself off the team? Or at least making Johnson have to think about it?

Thomas has missed the cut in three of his last four tournaments, including the U.S. Open, where he shot a second-round 81. After what appeared to be a nice comeback at the Travelers Championship, where he tied for ninth, Thomas missed the cut again at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Throw in a missed cut at the Masters, a tie for 65th in his title defense at the PGA Championship and a tie for 60th at the Players Championship—where Thomas won two years ago—and it's been a frustrating season.

Add the fact that as of now he's barely qualified for the first FedEx Cup playoff event in Memphis and it points to some emphasis on where Thomas is at the moment.

"I need to take it one step at a time," Thomas said last week at the Rocket Mortgage. "I'm very fortunate that I've never been in this position in my career. I need to play some good golf. In the past I’ve kind of already been looking at East Lake (the season-ending Tour Championship) at this point in the season, but I’m not in that spot right now so I just need to continue building and keep working on what I have been. Definitely saw a lot of great signs last week and really played some really, really, good golf those last three days. I’m just a couple events away from being right there. And a lot of things can happen."

Thomas does have some time to get things sorted. He is scheduled to play the Genesis Scottish Open prior to the British Open. Having added the Rocket Mortgage Classic to try and improve his position, he might be looking at adding the 3M Championship or the Wyndham Championship prior to the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, which will have a field of just 70 players to start the three-tournament FedEx Cup playoffs. Thomas is 68th.

The BMW Championship is the last tournament to qualify for one of the six automatic spots on the team.

Making things more interesting for Johnson is a couple of players not necessarily expected to earn their way onto the team. U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark is second in the standings, Brooks Koepka—who won the PGA and didn’t participate in the Presidents Cup last year due to playing for LIV Golf—is third and Keegan Bradley is just a spot outside the top six. With his victory on Sunday, Rickie Fowler has also played himself into the mix.

Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele hold down the other four automatic spots with Spieth, Cam Young, Sam Burns, Thomas and Collin Morikawa in the top 12.

Denny McCarthy, Kurt Kitayama, Harris English and Tony Finau are among those outside the top 12.

Given Thomas's track record, there is strong reason to pick him, even if his results remain poor. He’s 6-2-1 in two Ryder Cups, including a 4-1 record with a singles victory over Rory McIlroy during a U.S. loss in France in 2018 and 2-1-1 at Whistling Straits in 2021. He is 10-3-2 in three Presidents Cups.

Those around him will also factor. Finau has two victories this season but he's not among the top 12 and missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage. He’s been a solid performer at both Cups.