There is arguably no bigger name now relying on a captain’s pick for the American team at the Presidents Cup than Justin Thomas, with the two-time major champion 19th in the qualification standings after the BMW Championship.
It has been another difficult season for Justin Thomas, with the 31-year-old only really showing glimpses of his full quality and struggling to put it all together over four rounds in a single tournament. The only time he finished higher than fifth came back in January at the American Express.
He seemingly expected to miss out on making The Tour Championship, with Thomas suggesting that he did not plan to hang around after the BMW Championship, with the American right around the cut line in the FedEx Cup play-off standings.
But Brian Harman’s poor finish opened the door for Thomas to get his ticket to East Lake. And while it is hard to see him competing with the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele in the coming days, there is an opportunity for him to send a message to Jim Furyk ahead of the Presidents Cup.
What Justin Thomas needs to do to earn Presidents Cup spot
In fact, speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman suggested that he believes that Thomas is in a strong position to receive a captain’s pick.
“I still think he’s going to get picked, but he’s got to play well this week,” he said.
“If he goes out and is able to do what Keegan did last week, which, it would be nice obviously to go and win – I guess what I mean by that is what did Keegan Bradley and Adam Scott do last week? They got over the hump of making it to the BMW Championship and were able to play free, I think with Justin, and he’s been open with us about this, that sometimes his expectations just get too high for himself that he kind of gets in his own way a little bit.
“I think this week he’s going to have a really good week, the reason for that is his expectations are lower, he’s got nothing to lose, all he can do is just help his case and the recency bias of Justin Thomas started the week even par, 10 shots back and finished top five in the FedEx Cup, I don’t see how you leave him off the team. That’s the argument he’s going to try to make.”
Surely just four spots to play for
Obviously, it is only six names who have automatically qualified for Montreal, but it would be a real shock if the likes of Sam Burns and Tony Finau now missed out on making Furyk’s team. Meanwhile, Keegan Bradley could have hardly staked a stronger claim with his win at Castle Pines.
What boosts Thomas’ hopes from there is that he has so much experience across the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, while figures such as Max Homa and Brian Harman are in little form right now.
Furyk will know what he is likely to get from Thomas, so it would not be a surprise if a good performance this week did lead to him getting picked. But he will be aware that the captain probably has plenty of reasons not to pick him too.
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