“I want to make the Ryder Cup team so bad” – Justin Thomas reveals he ‘legitimately’ would rather play in Rome than the FedEx Cup

Justin Thomas is fighting for a FedEx Cup Playoffs at the Wyndham Championship. At the end of Day 3, the golfer was sitting T-11 on the event’s leaderboard, with a projection of not making the Playoffs cut. With only 70 players moving on to Memphis next week, Thomas will have to better his position to join the exclusive group.

The pressure seems to have reached several players at Sedgefield Country Club. Thomas, being one of the players affected by the tight competition for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, has now stated that he “legitimately would rather make the Ryder Cup than the Playoffs.” The two-time major champion and former World No. 1 said that he’s more interested in the team event in Rome than the upcoming week’s 70-man event.

Speaking at Sedgefield Country Club, Justin Thomas said, as quoted by Golfweek:

“I want to make the Ryder Cup team so bad. I mean, it’s so important to me. 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.

"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.”

It is pertinent to note that Justin Thomas entered the week at No. 79 in the FedEx Cup season-long standings. The golfer has since improved his projected position to 72nd. However, the golfer still remains 19 points out of a playoff berth.

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Justin Thomas reveals approach for Sunday’s final round of the Wyndham Championship

The 30-year-old golfer went on to explain his position and said that it is “a bummer” to not win a tournament despite trying.

Justin Thomas said:

“It’s a lot harder than trying to win a golf tournament in my opinion. I think when you’re trying to win a tournament you’re there and if you don’t win it’s a bummer, but you still had a great week kind of thing. If I just don’t get it done for what I need to get done this week, then it sucks and my year’s over.”

Further addressing his approach for Sunday’s final round of the Wyndham Championship, the PGA Tour star added:

“The only way I feel I would change strategy would be in a situation where I needed to birdie the last two holes or I needed to birdie 18 or something. The hope is to go play really well tomorrow and see how close to the lead we can get, and if I do that, then should be fine.

"It’s very similar to Q-School. I didn’t go into the final stage of Q-School trying to finish 45th, I went there trying to win a golf tournament. If I just came up short, then it was going to be plenty to qualify. It’s a very different but somewhat similar situation here.”

It is pertinent to note that Justin Thomas’ FedEx Cup Playoffs qualification hopes took a jibe when 54-hole co-leaders Lucas Glover and Billy Horschel zoomed from No. 112 and No. 116 to No. 50 and No. 53 on Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see if Thomas finds a strong round and make the Playoffs on Sunday.