Just as Keegan Bradley was selected to captain Team USA at the 2025 Ryder Cup in Bethpage, he got another leadership role for the 2024 Presidents Cup in Montreal, Canada. Before Jim Furyk picked Bradley as one of the players on his team, he was supposed to be vice-captain. However, Furyk relieved him of his duties and wanted the 3-time PGA Tour winner to only focus on playing the best golf. So, who will replace Bradley on Team USA? Will it be Justin Thomas? His best friend says otherwise.

Thomas shares a pretty close relationship with Smylie Kaufman, so coming from the former PGA Tour winner, his words might be believable as to what JT’s next move might be. On his latest podcast episode of The Smylie Show, his co-host, Charlie Hulme, asked Kaufman who he thought would be Bradley’s replacement. The NBC commentator first said maybe someone like Billy Horschel got the offer, but he may reply by saying “I’m not doing it.”

When Hulme pushed about JT becoming the new vice-captain, Kaufman was head-bent that he would not do it. He said, “There’s no chance he’s doing that. No chance, absolutely, no chance.” Although Thomas has not been given that opportunity yet, from his best friend’s hypothetical perspective, he would decline the offer. The hosts compared JT’s snub to that of Bradley’s at the 2023 Ryder Cup and stated that if Bradley was offered a VC role for the previous Ryder Cup, he would have probably denied it too.

Kaufman has been an advocate for JT in recent days; he also argued about Max Homa making the Presidents Cup’s team but not Thomas, although he played East Lake but Homa didn’t. Even the golf world was surprised that Thomas wasn’t picked over Homa or Brian Harman. Amid his snub from the Presidents Cup and rumors of becoming a vice-captain for the same team, how has been Justin Thomas’s demeanor?

Justin Thomas is a bit disappointed yet encouraging

Although he was struggling in the middle of the season, at last, Justin Thomas pulled through a T14 at the TOUR Championship and showed what he was capable of. He probably has been bummed out about missing the biggest team event of the 2024 season, but Thomas has not let the snub spoil his spirit. When his good friend, Max Homa, posted on Instagram that he was grateful to be in the Presidents Cup again, JT commented under it, “Crush it, bro,” and encouraged him to knock out the International Team.

Furthermore, while sharing on his previous Instagram story, Thomas praised captain Jim Furyk for putting together a great team for the Presidents Cup and said, “I will be the first one pulling for them and watching,” and alluded that he will be using it as a motivation to not miss another team event as they are his favorite weeks he has had.

We might never know whether Thomas not being on the Presidents Cup’s USA Team was a good or bad decision or not, but he surely does not have anything against Jim Furyk and fully understood his decision to choose the six picks he did. But for the next team event, which is the 2025 Ryder Cup, JT will be making sure that he makes it on the team.