ROME — Justin Thomas is not holding receipts.
Now, I know that is not the “look-at-me” take for some after proving doubters wrong, but Thomas is a bit more humble and more classy than that. In fact, the South Florida resident doesn’t care what was being said on social media when Zach Johnson picked the struggling golfer (by his standard) for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.
Because it was Thomas paired with his buddy, Jordan Spieth, for a practice round against teammates Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele Tuesday at Marco Simone Golf Club, and not, say, Cameron Young or Keegan Bradley or even Dustin Johnson.
“I definitely haven’t kept the receipts,” Thomas said. “I don’t feel like there is any good that can come from that. After I was picked … doesn’t matter what it is, especially when it comes to people and stuff online. Everybody’s got an opinion and theirs is right and everybody else’s is wrong, at least that’s what generally seems to be. So for that exact reason, I stayed away from social media and stayed away from stuff online because I knew nothing good was going to come from it.”
In other words, ignore the outside noise and get to work. That is what the former world No. 1 who has dropped to a seven-year low (24th) in the world ranking has done while overcoming the worst slump of his career.
Thomas has not won on the PGA Tour since the 2022 PGA Championship, 16 months ago. Since then, he has more missed cuts (8) than top 10s (6).
Yet, nobody wearing the red, white and blue this week, nobody looking to end the U.S. drought on European soil that dates to 1993, doubts Zach Johnson made the right choice in picking Thomas.
“He hates losing,” Schauffele said. “He gets up for these. You see a lot more emotion out of him, raw emotion out of him, than you normally would at an individual tournament or on the PGA Tour.”
“He is not afraid of the moment and he loves match play,” Cantlay said. “His record speaks for itself. He’s been the best Ryder Cup player probably in the last decade. I think any time you have a chance to have that guy on your team, you want him.”
And this from Thomas’ best friend and likely foursome playing partner in Friday’s morning session to open the Ryder Cup.
“The elevated pressure and honestly the away games and opportunity to … raise the (home) crowd up but also to quiet and upset them here, he loves doing that,” Spieth said. “And it creates maybe just a little extra level of…
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