After all of the analytics had been run, the social-media screeds had been dismissed, the pros and cons had been weighed, the “this guy versus that guy” charts had been studied and the “what ifs” had been weighed like heavyweight boxers before a title fight, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson added Justin Thomas to his 12-player roster for what may be the best and most obvious reason.
“You just don’t leave JT out,” Johnson said Tuesday in announcing Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns and Rickie Fowler will join six automatic qualifiers at Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome next month.
Was it as simple as that?
Maybe “yes” and “no” are both correct answers.
Yes, Thomas fits this Ryder Cup team perfectly because, as Johnson said, it’s as if he had been born for this.
No, because the fact is that Thomas hasn’t played well this year, and if his selection had been based solely on performance, well, Keegan Bradley, Lucas Glover and a handful of other players have a bone to pick with the captain and his coterie of vice captains.
Some wondered whether Koepka might be kept off the team because of his ties to LIV Golf (that apparently was not a consideration), and Burns edged Cam Young and others for what likely was one of the two final spots, but it’s the Thomas pick that will crackle in the pre-Ryder Cup discussions.
It was controversial when it was merely speculation. Now that it’s a fact, the conversation will continue.
By his high standards, Thomas had a decidedly down season. He did not win and managed just three top-10 finishes in 20 PGA Tour starts. He missed the cut in three of the four major championships and in five of his last eight starts.
“Obviously, form is a part of our decision-making process,” Johnson said. “There are a number of elements in that process. That is one of them.
“So is fit for the course, fit for the team room, experience and for [Thomas] in particular, his passion and full confidence that’s where he belongs. It was a pretty easy pick, especially when the top six took some ownership in the picks.”
Part of the reason the Europeans have not lost the Ryder Cup on home soil in three decades has been attributed to their team chemistry, an undeniable element that has been nurtured by captains and players through the years.
In recent years, the American teams have worked to foster a similar camaraderie, and Thomas, who is 6-2-1 in two Ryder Cup appearances, has been at the core of that feeling. In the 2018 Ryder Cup near Paris, Thomas went out first in Sunday singles in a tight match and took down Rory McIlroy.
“He’s been the heart and soul of Team USA in Ryder Cups, our emotional leader,” Johnson said. “He leads by example.”
Without revealing many details, Johnson said the six captain’s picks were not determined until he met with the six automatic qualifiers – Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele – at the Tour Championship last week. Those discussions helped finalize the roster, but Johnson indicated that nothing that happened over the last two weeks dramatically shifted the selections.
There was a large group of players under consideration, and Johnson said he made multiple calls to players who ranked as far down as the low 20s on the points list to let them know they had not been chosen.
Johnson did not, apparently, call Dustin Johnson or Bryson DeChambeau, both of whom left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf last year.
“I joked with my wife this morning that I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights thinking what could happen, wanting to be on the team. If I was, if I wasn’t. It wasn’t in my hands.” – Justin Thomas
Qualifying for the European side will end Sunday at the DP World Tour’s Omega European Masters. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Tyrrell Hatton already have secured spots via the rankings. Captain Luke Donald will complete his team Monday with six at-large selections for the September 29-October 1 match.
The selection of Thomas and, to a degree, Burns will fuel the narrative that the Ryder Cup team remains something of a good ol’ boys network. Fowler, Spieth and Thomas are running buddies, and Burns is Scheffler’s best friend.
The decisions, Johnson said, were made with input from his vice captains (Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk, Steve Stricker, Davis Love III and Fred Couples), the automatic qualifiers and an analytics crew to whom he referred as “the nerd herd.” Multiple models were run fitting players together at Marco Simone, providing a statistical foundation for how the U.S. team would be best served.
Then there was the human side of the equation, and that may have been Thomas’ biggest asset.
“I did put a lot of pressure on myself to make this team, but I feel it was a valuable learning experience that I will use going forward. You can want something too bad,” said the 30-year-old Thomas, whose 15 PGA Tour victories include two PGA Championships. He did not swing a golf club for two weeks after the Wyndham Championship ended his PGA Tour season.
“I joked with my wife this morning that I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights thinking what could happen, wanting to be on the team. If I was, if I wasn’t. It wasn’t in my hands.
“After getting the call [Monday], I couldn’t sleep last night, I was so excited.”