HOYLAKE, England — Justin Thomas surely wanted to walk directly off the 18th green and straight to the car park, toss his golf clubs in the trunk, slam the door and get the hell out of Hoylake after his hellish British Open experience came to an end Friday at Royal Liverpool.
No one would have blamed Thomas if he had done just that. Shooting 11-over through two rounds to miss the cut by eight shots at a major championship will do that to a player who has won two of them and has lofty expectations for himself.
Thomas is one of the most talented, decorated players in the sport, but he’s in an inexplicable funk at the moment. Really, it’s not fair to call it inexplicable, because golf lacks explanation.
How could a player with the supreme skill and imagination of Thomas shoot a career-worst 82 in the first round on Thursday, a day that was appropriately punctuated by his quadruple-bogey 9 on the final hole, the par-5 18th?
Because it’s golf.
Thomas followed that nightmare with a much more respectable and representative even-par 71 on Friday in the second round and took some solace in that.
The problem for Thomas at the moment is this: He needs more than solace. He needs results. He needs Ryder Cup and FedExCup points like he needs oxygen.
Thomas is in a fight to remain relevant enough that Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, with whom he happens to be sharing a rental house this week, makes him a captain’s pick for the U.S. team that’ll travel to Italy in September.
When I spoke to Thomas at the Travelers Championship last month, days after he missed the cut at the U.S. Open following a second-round 81, he talked about some new things he’d been working on in his swing with his father and coach, Mike Thomas, and that he hadn’t trusted those things at the U.S. Open.
Thomas then went out and shot 64-62-67 in his final three rounds at the Travelers to finish tied for ninth. But whatever worked that week in Connecticut didn’t stick, because Thomas missed the cut the following week at the Rocket Mortgage and then finished tied for 60th at the Scottish Open last week.
And then came Thursday.
It was difficult to watch as Thomas, already in the midst of a terrible round, made a mess of the 18th hole, hitting from one greenside pot bunker to another, looking like a 15 handicapper, and taking a 9 on the hole.
“Making two doubles and a quad, that’s 8-year-old, 9-year-old kind of stuff, not someone who’s trying to win a British Open,’’ Thomas said Friday. “You just can’t do stuff like that.’’
Stuff like that is endangering Thomas’ chance to make the 12-man Ryder Cup team, something that would be devastating to him considering the success he has had as a team member. Currently, he’s 13th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings, and the top six as of Aug. 20 are automatically on the team.
So, Thomas, who’s 75th in the FedExCup standings and in jeopardy of not qualifying for the playoffs, has a lot of work to do in a little time to show Johnson he’s worthy of going to Rome in the fall to take on Europe.
“I want to make the Ryder Cup more than anything,’’ Thomas said. “I’m probably honestly trying too hard to do it.’’
After his round on Friday, Johnson was asked if he’s “concerned’’ about Thomas’ current form.
“Well, as a friend and roommate, I’m concerned just because he’s my buddy and I know what he’s capable of,’’ Johnson said. “Obviously, he’s a stalwart in that event. I don’t know his record off the top of my head, but I know it’s pretty good.’’
It is. Thomas has a 6-2-1 record in two previous Ryder Cup appearances and is 10-3-2 in three Presidents Cups.
“Those kind of moments like that, he’s one of the best there is,’’ Johnson said. “Bottom line is this game is really hard. There’s going to be peaks, there’s going to be some valleys. Let’s hope whatever sort of non-peak he’s in, it’s short. The kid doesn’t quit. I hope he can find some form.’’
Rory McIlroy, one of Thomas’ close friends, insisted, “JT will be just OK.’’
“JT is one of the most talented guys out here,’’ McIlroy said. “We all go through bad patches. That’s golf. There’s not one player in the world that hasn’t. But he’s got the right people around him, and he’s got the right work ethic to get himself out of it.’’
Thomas said his loss of form “doesn’t make sense.’’
“I’ll hit shots like a No. 1 player in the world, and then I’ll make a 9 on my last hole of the tournament,’’ he said. “I don’t know if it’s a focus thing or I’m just putting too much pressure on myself or what it is, but when I figure it out, I’ll be better for it.’’
