Justin Thomas is feeling the pressure with season on the line

With his season on the line at this week’s Wyndham Championship, Justin Thomas is feeling the pressure.

Justin Thomas’s season all comes down to a final eighteen holes on Sunday at this week’s Wyndham Championship.

JT, who came into the week on the outside looking in when it comes to the Top 70 who will advance to the first leg of this year’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, could very well find himself on the outside of this year’s Ryder Cup Team as well. For Thomas, that is a scenario he is desperate to avoid.

“I mean, I want to make the Ryder Cup team so bad. I mean, it’s so important to me.” Justin Thomas said on Saturday. “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.”

The stark reality of the situation could very well require Thomas to make the playoffs in order to keep his dreams of a Ryder Cup appearance alive. After a tumultuous season that has included ultimate lows at major championships and very few highs in 2023, Thomas will attempt to save his season on Sunday at the Wyndham Championship.

Last year’s PGA Champion who is making his fourth consecutive start in a row, and is coming off a missed cut at the 3M Open in his last start, did what was required of him by making the weekend this week in Greensboro, North Carolina. Now, following rounds of 70-65 and 66 over the first three days, Justin needs one more great round on Sunday to extend his season.

Justin will at the very least need an 18th place finish or better on Sunday to keep alive any hope of making the trip to TPC Southwind next week, he could even potentially need a 4th place finish to make absolute certain, per pgatour.com. 

Justin Thomas is feeling the pressure.

Thomas’s strong desire to be part of the Ryder Cup Team in Italy next month has only added to the incredible pressure he has been feeling, and according to Justin, is one of the main culprits as to why has struggled so much the past month and a half or so.

"But because of that, I think that’s why I played so poorly the last month and a half or two months. Like it’s just 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 trust my ability and my talent, then it could have been good enough. Hopefully I learn from my mistake and play well tomorrow and just see what happens.  – Justin Thomas"

As for his plan for dealing with the immense pressure that Sunday’s final round at Sedgefield will bring? Justin Thomas hopes to draw upon his past experiences.

“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.” Thomas said. “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.”

While it’s no guarantee that missing out on the playoffs would also result in missing out on the Ryder Cup, Thomas knows it’s a good possibility with potentially very few to no more remaining opportunities to impress U.S. Captain Zach Johnson.

But if JT can deal with the pressure and put his best foot forward during Sunday’s final round as he has done so often throughout his illustrious career to date, he may very well save his season, and potentially his Ryder Cup aspirations in the process.