He wasn’t part of the top six Americans on the OWGR! Neither was he part of the six wildcard picks made by Captain Jim Furyk for the Presidents Cup. Sure enough, it wasn’t a beautiful sight for Justin Thomas. But the pro didn’t seem to have taken the fall and stayed there as it is. He did try to make a comeback at the recently concluded Zozo Championship. And he would have, for sure, had it not been for the mediocre back-9 he carded at the event!

Sounds truly unfortunate, yes. But true, nevertheless. The 31-year-old athlete, according to the 2024 Zozo Championship leaderboard, could only card a single birdie at the back-9 of the par-70 course at the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. Ultimately, this caused him to finish T2 behind the Columbian PGA Tour Pro Nico Echavarria, by just one stroke.

One stroke behind?

That means, had he carded at least a birdie more on the back-9 during the final day’s play; then, he would have had his 16th PGA Tour win. The golfer’s last victory came back in 2022 when he clinched the title of champion at the PGA Championship by beating the likes of Will Zalatoris in a playoff.

Coming back to the $8.5 million tournament in Japan, Justin Thomas, throughout the four days of play, dished out a total of 18 birdies, one eagle, and a bogey. Interestingly, the athlete scored at least two birdies each day on the back-9 over the first three rounds. He put up two of them on Thursday, three and an eagle on Friday, while dishing out just three on Saturday as opposed to the single one on Sunday.

Had he scored one more birdie or even a bogey less, the golfer had every chance to win the playoff. That would have ensued with the Columbian athlete. And if he had won, Thomas would have been the one to rake in 40 OWGR points and a cut of $1,530,000 from the total prize pool, making it a true comeback from the Presidents Cup snub.

Justin Thomas and his exclusion from the Presidents Cup

“It would be nice to play well for a lot of reasons this week, but that would definitely be one,” said the pro ahead of the 2024 TOUR Championship. He was alluding to becoming a potential wildcard pick at the biennial event that would be held at the Royal Montreal Country Club. He would have surely liked to be a part of the prestigious team. But fate had other plans for him, unfortunately so!

Additionally, when the announcement was made, Thomas was notably absent from Furyk’s list. It included the likes of Max Homa, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Sam Burns, Tony Finau, and Keegan Bradley. But he was still a good sport, taking the loss as it was. “Jim has put together a great team,” responded the PGA Tour Pro, “I will be the first one pulling for them and watching while using it as motivation to not miss a team event again as they are some of my favorite weeks I’ve had.”

Seems like the motivation did get to him, but he still couldn’t quite make it to the end of the road. No worries, for he just needs to keep the momentum and win the next event he tees off, be it in 2024 or 2025!