Justin Thomas' hopes of a spot at the FedEx Cup Playoffs remained alive on Saturday, with the American carding a four-under round of 66 to move into a tie for 11th at the Wyndham Championship.
Needing to finish inside the top 70 of the FedEx Cup standings to move on to the playoffs next week, he is currently projected to finish 72nd, but that could all change in a matter of moments, given previous history of the chaos that playoff season produces.
Despite sitting just outside the top 70, Thomas is back in contention at a PGA Tour event, but it's a slightly bigger tournament on the horizon that has the 30-year-old's eye, with the American hoping to be part of the US Ryder Cup side in September.
"I want to make the Ryder Cup team so bad," explained Thomas, who is currently well outside the top six automatic US qualifying spots and will likely rely on a Captain's pick from Zach Johnson.
"I mean, it's so important to me. I mean, I legitimately would rather make the Ryder Cup than the Playoffs, which is really, really messed up to say, but it's just the truth. But because of that, I think that's why I played so poorly the last month and a half or two months. Like, I'm putting so much pressure on myself to play well, it's very similar to what happened to me in 2016.
"I felt like I started to try so hard at the end of the year when if I just would have kept doing what I was doing and trusted my ability and my talent, then it could have been good enough. Hopefully I learn from my mistakes and play well tomorrow and just see what happens."
By Thomas' incredibly high standards, it's no secret that 2023 has been a poor year for the two-time Major winner. At the US Open in June, after firing an 81, he claimed to be the "lowest I've felt". At the next Major, The Open, he made a quadruple bogey nine on the 18th hole to finish at +11 (82). The missed cut was his third at the Majors this year.
Despite this, Thomas isn't giving up and, finding himself just outside the top 10 at the Wyndham Championship, he has another opportunity to rectify his performances from earlier in the season.
"It's nerve wracking, but it's a different kind of nerves. I mean, it's a lot harder than trying to win a golf tournament in my opinion," explained Thomas, as he discussed what implications missing the Playoffs could have on the future going forward.
"I think when you're trying to win a tournament, you're there and if you don't win it's a bummer, but you still had a great week kind of thing. If I just don't get it done for what I need to get done this week, then it sucks and my year's over. But, you know, fortunately for me, I've been in some tough situations before with Majors, trying to win tournaments and team events where I feel like I've had a lot of pressure on me. Hopefully I'll be able to, you know, kind of use some of those past experiences for tomorrow if I'm feeling any of it."
