Justin Thomas’ poor form continued as he missed another cut at the 3M Open to throw further doubt on his hopes of reaching the playoffs and playing in the Ryder Cup.
Thomas has endured his worst year on the PGA Tour as a professional with the American without a win and dropping to 24th in the world rankings.
The two-time Major champion has also been devoid of form recently, missing four cuts in his last six events prior to his week, including a second-round 81 at the U.S. Open in June, and a first-round 82 at The Open last week.
That run worsened to five missed cuts in his last seven events this week in Minnesota as he carded rounds of 69 and 71 to miss the cut by two shots.
Having started his second round on the tenth, he birdied his third hole of the day but was pegged back by bogey on the very next hole. A costly double bogey followed on his ninth hole after he found the water twice on the par-five 18th.
Another double bogey followed four holes later as Thomas dropped to +1 for the tournament. A spirited finish, with four birdies in his last five holes, saw him fight back to -2 but that total saw him fall two short of the cut line.
Now, with just one regular season event left - next week at the Wyndham Championship - Thomas will need an impressive performance or face the prospect of missing out on the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The 15-time PGA Tour winner is projected to sit at No.80 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week with only the top 70 qualifying for the first playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Thomas also needs to finish in the top 50 in the points list to gain entry to next season’s designated events, although he could still qualify for those if he remains ranked within the world’s top 30.
More importantly for Thomas, perhaps, he now faces a make-or-break week to boost his chances of securing one of Zach Johnson’s captain’s picks for the upcoming Ryder Cup.
The two-time Ryder Cupper has an enviable 6-2-1 record in the tournament and has formed an impressive partnership with Justin Spieth but currently sits 14th in the US standings.
Johnson has six picks and would no-doubt want Thomas’ experience at Marco Simone in September, but without a strong finish next week it may well be hard to justify his inclusion in the US team that will go in search of their first Ryder Cup win in Europe since 1993.
