Justin Thomas is too occupied with helping the Americans end three decades of losing the Ryder Cup on European soil to worry about any criticism of him being part of that effort.
U.S. captain Zach Johnson had no second thoughts about using one of his six wild-card selections on Thomas, in a slump so severe that he failed to reach the PGA Tour’s postseason for the first time in his career.
That seemed much easier the last time at Whistling Straits before a one-sided gallery against an aging European team. Pairings for the first session are not announced until the opening ceremony Thursday afternoon, though how the teams were paired in practice offered plenty of clues - the Scandinavia duo of Hovland and Ludvig Aberg of Sweden, the English duo of U.S. Open champions Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick.
For the Americans, it was obvious even before practice rounds. Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele have been partners since their first Presidents Cup in 2019 , while Thomas and Jordan Spieth have been friends since they were in their early teens and partners dating to 2018. “He just gets the ball in the hole faster than other guys do, and that’s how you win matches here and that’s how you play good golf,” Spieth said. “The elevated pressure … to raise up the home crowd but also to quiet and upset them here, he loves doing that. And it created maybe just a little extra level of focus for him.
“He is not afraid of the moment he’s in,” Cantlay said. “His record speaks for itself. He’s been the best Ryder Cup player probably in the last decade. I think any time you have a chance to have that guy on your team, you want him.”
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