Weekly Read Fore! Things: A Big Start for Justin Thomas as the PGA Tour Fall Begins

The Ryder Cup captain's pick is playing in California as is automatic pick Max Homa, two weeks prior to Rome.

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Fore! Things

1. This is a big week for Justin Thomas. Is he able to show any form after an extended break due to missing the FedEx Cup playoffs? He will be joined by defending champion Max Homa at the Fortinet Championship. They are the only U.S. players on the Ryder Cup team who will compete following the Tour Championship and prior to the Ryder Cup.

Justin Thomas is playing the Fortinet Championship as a Ryder Cup tuneup :: Matt Krohn/USA TODAY Sports

2. The Fortinet Championship is the first of what is being called the FedEx Fall, a series of seven tournaments that allows players who were outside the top 50 in FedEx Cup points at the end of the FedEx St. Jude Championship to improve their positions. The points will continue where they left off, with players who end up 51 to 60 earning spots in the first two Signature events following the Sentry. It is also an opportunity for players who are outside of the top 125 to secure a card for 2024. These points will not count during 2024.

3. All 12 members of the European Ryder Cup team are scheduled to play this week's BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour's flagship tournament. Shane Lowry is the defending champion.

4. The U.S. Ryder Cup team visited Marco Simone, site of the Ryder Cup, over the weekend. The European team is scheduled to visit Monday and Tuesday prior to this week’s BMW PGA Championship.

Fore! More Things

1. As of now, the only Ryder Cup player from either side competing the week prior to the event in Rome is Brooks Koepka, who has the LIV Golf Chicago tournament as preparation. Koepka has not played a competitive tournament since LIV Golf Bedminster, where he was 38th. The PGA Tour has no event next week and the DP World Tour is in France at Le Golf National—site of the 2018 Ryder Cup. Billy Horschel and Tom Kim are entered.

2. Tiger Woods won’t be in Rome as an assistant captain—and speculation will swirl soon after this year’s Ryder Cup if he is to be the next American captain in 2025—but he’s undoubtedly an unofficial vice captain this year. "Tiger is very much a part of Team USA and has been for years," U.S. captain Zach Johnson told the Associated Press during the visit over the weekend to the Ryder Cup site.

“He is, for lack of a better term, on call with us. He is very much in the know as to what we’re trying to do ... (We’re) going to utilize his wisdom and he’s passionate about it. He wishes he could be here, but it’s just not in in the cards for him physically. And that’s fine. I mean, he is with us. He’s just not here physically."

3. Last week Notre Dame won the team title and Cecil Belisle of Kansas won the individual championship at the Folds of Honor Collegiate, an annual college event held at American Dunes Golf Club in Grand Haven, Mich. The course was redesigned for free by Jack Nicklaus and opened in 2021 with the idea of raising awareness for fallen and disabled veterans. Folds of Honor, founded by Lt. Col Dan Rooney, provides educational scholarships to the spouses and children of military members who have died or been disabled while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

4. There are 18 days until the first session of the Ryder Cup in Italy. The start to the 2024 PGA Tour season at the Sentry begins in 115 days. And the first round of the Masters is 207 days away.