[man] We'll get started.
We'd like to welcome Justin Thomas into the interview room.
[reporter] JT, how difficult is it to not look at the big picture?
Because the Ryder Cup is in play, you haven't won as much as you want to,
and that's frustrated you.
What's the difficulty in trying not to get too consumed by that?
[crowd groans]
[tense music playing]
-[commentator] Unbelievable. -[commentator 2] Bunker to bunker.
By Justin Thomas.
[suspenseful music continues]
-[crowd] Oh! -[commentator] Really searching right now.
[commentator 2] He is. It's been that way for him all year.
[Renner] When players turn professional, I would say the majority of them,
if you ask them what their career goals are,
one is to win a major, two is to play on a Ryder Cup team.
[reporter] Are you concerned about the Ryder Cup?
-Am I excited about it? -[reporter] Concerned.
Oh, concerned? Yeah, obviously.
I want to make the Ryder Cup more than anything.
[cheering and applause]
The Ryder Cup is super unique in golf. You've got 12 Americans
and 12 Europeans that play against each other once every two years.
There are six guys that make it on points, and then there are six captain's picks.
For Team USA, Zach Johnson has six guys that he gets to pick at his discretion.
[Johnson] My role as a captain is formulating 12 guys
to go compete and represent Team USA.
That's a daunting, weighty task.
It's a weird year to be a Ryder Cup captain.
[Dethier] For Zach Johnson, he's left with a decision.
Do you pick a guy like Justin Thomas, who has proven himself to be
like the heart and soul of the Ryder Cup team in the past?
[commentator] Justin Thomas, a four and three win.
[Dethier] Or do you ride the hot hand? Do you ride the guys
that deserve it purely on their play?
And then you have to figure out, "Okay, should I be taking any guys from LIV?"
Koepka conquers the PGA at Oak Hill.
How do I weigh their performance
against guys that are playing PGA TOUR events?
Keegan Bradley gets win number five.
[Bradley] If I'm not on the team, I'm definitely in the conversation.
It's a drug. You want to get back and you wanna feel it again.
[commentator] And the American momentum continues.
[Rapaport] Keegan Bradley came from really off the radar this year
to put some pressure on Zach Johnson,
because some guys that he probably thought were going to earn their way in,
now are relying on a pick.
-[crowd] Oh! -[commentator] Oh no. Oy.
And JT finds himself right on that knife's edge.
[Thomas] It's 12 guys in the country.
Like, it's… it's hard. It's a big deal.
Of course I want to be there. I'd be an idiot to say I don't want to be.
[Johnson] It's gonna be hard. There'll be difficult situations,
and drama can ensue.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Thomas] Leave it.
Good boy.
Good catch, dude!
Get it, buddy. Get it.
Get it.
[laughing]
We've had some ducks that,
like, full Sopranos style, that would just show up in our pool.
And we thought it was so cute and funny, and then they started shitting,
and we didn't think it was so funny anymore, so
Jill got a couple of animals.
She got an owl, and then she got an alligator,
and it turns out the alligator is like megalodon. This thing is so big.
Ah, don't go in the water, please.
Frank. Hey, come here. Get out of there.
Come on.
You always know every season is gonna be different.
You know they're gonna bring different challenges.
I put so much pressure on myself this year than any other year that I've had.
You know, I could argue that this could be and could have been
one of the most influential seasons of my career
when I look at it 15, 20 years from now.
[producer] Is there a word you could use to describe your season?
There are definitely a couple words I could think of.
Um…
[laughs]
I'm trying to think of something that's, like, actually
a little bit more useful than "shitty."
Or "piss poor."
[crowd] Oh!
[Thomas] I got a lot of clubs in my bag now.
[clears throat]
A million of them.
-[man] Ready to roll? -[Thomas] Let's do it.
[man] So it's kind of the start of the season.
[Thomas] It is.
I was looking at, um, flights for, uh, Ryder Cup,
Rome, but I thought maybe
you and I should go over there to see if we could play the course.
-What, just go on a little siesta? -Yeah.
[Thomas] Yeah, that'd be awesome
if I could find the time somehow to go to Rome in the middle of the season.
You got some extra weeks available, right?
I don't know about that much, but…
-[Young] Have you ever been to Rome? -No.
I haven't. All my buddies keep texting me. They're like,
"Oh, dude, we gotta go to, like, Rome."
I'm like, "You guys need to shut up. I need to make the team first. Let's…"
-"Let's pump the brakes a little bit." -Right.
[Thomas] But…
[Young] No, that's going to be pretty epic, though.
The Ryder Cup is one of the most special sporting events, you know, in the world.
It's the fucking best. [laughs]
I've played three of them, and my experiences have been unbelievable.
[commentator] This is a huge putt here. And in it goes.
Come on!
[Thomas] It brings out my competitive will to win.
Nobody loves representing their country in a team format more than Justin Thomas.
[cheering and applause]
[Renner] He has so many intangibles.
It would be hard to imagine him not being on the team.
[commentator] Justin Thomas has been doing work.
[crowd] USA!
[commentator 2] It's incredible. Only in this event.
[Dethier] If you're an American or a European, this is your all-NBA team.
This is your all-star game.
I mean, these guys really want to be on those Ryder Cup teams.
[cheering and applause]
[man] Unbelievable. Have you ever seen him like this?
[Dethier] They're also not playing for money.
They're playing for pride and for country.
-[cheering and applause] -There's just nothing like it.
So guys that haven't been there want desperately to get there,
and guys that have been on a Ryder Cup team just
desperately want to get there again.
[announcer] Representing the United States of America,
Jordan Spieth.
[Spieth] When you step on that first tee, you're playing a different style of golf.
It is the coolest event that we have in our sport, I think.
[cheering]
[Fowler] We all wanna be on the team.
The plan is to just go play well enough where Zach can't pass up a pick on me.
[cheering and applause]
[Rapaport] There's two ways to make a Ryder Cup team in the US.
The first one is there's a point system.
You move up in the points. The top six players make it to the Ryder Cup team.
Then there are six captain's picks. If you want to take all the doubt of it,
you're in the top six. You make it on points.
After that, it's up to the captain.
It tends to be guys who were up there in points that didn't quite make it,
but they get six picks.
[Spieth] Points are based on money earned through the season.
Every PGA TOUR event, every thousand dollars is a point,
and in the majors, it's one and a half points per thousand.
If you win a major, it's two points per thousand.
So getting on the team,
I mean, it's such a massive goal at the beginning of Ryder Cup years.
[Thomas] Once that point system starts, everybody starts from the exact same.
Everybody's got to earn their way on that team.
I need to be one of those guys. There's really no other way to say it.
-[Young] That's not a new bag, is it? -No.
-[Young] When do they give you new bags? -Whenever I ask.
-[Young] Cornhole. Look at this backyard. -[Thomas] Wow.
Hey, Zach.
-[Thomas] A lot of-- -[Young] Look at these, Zach.
I'm going to be really, really nice to Zach all year
so that if I don't make it on points,
then hopefully he'll give me a pick. So I'm in… I'm in a very sticky situation
with Zach because I don't want to kiss his ass too much.
-But I also want to kiss his ass. -I'm not into politics, so…
Yeah.
Good thing is I've been around him enough.
I don't like lobbying. I don't like… I do like free houses, though.
Yeah.
And free food.
-Dang. -Both are essential for my work.
[Thomas chuckles]
It's gonna be an expensive year.
[Johnson] He and I are good friends. There's no question.
But when it comes to the cup, you have to, at some point, try to put that aside.
It's difficult, and he fully understands that I'm in a difficult position.
[reporter] What is Zach gonna do as it relates to picks?
[reporter 2] It's early in the season,
but never too early to talk about the possibilities.
Those guys on the bubble, a guy like Keegan Bradley.
He wins in the fall and now sits seventh in the Ryder Cup standings.
If he continues to play well, maybe he tacks on another win.
It's hard to see him not making this team.
[Bradley] I want to be on that team.
My name is Keegan Bradley.
I play on the PGA TOUR, and this is my 13th year.
I'm 36.
If I'm gonna make a team, this is one I probably need to sack up and make.
A whole generation of guys that I came out with are gone.
The younger, good players like JT and Jordan and
Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler
and these guys that are such great players and incredible guys,
they sort of grew up playing together, and they all went to huge schools,
and they all were the best players,
and so I… I… I feel a little bit like I'm on the outside looking in.
I feel a lot like I am.
[tense music playing]
Keegan. I've actually competed with him in Ryder Cups as a teammate,
and, um, I would summarize him as extremely motivated.
[Rapaport] Keegan's probably fighting a little bit of an uphill battle
just because he's a little bit older and he's not part of this crew
that has kind of moved through the last Ryder Cups together.
I don't think anyone on the planet
wants anything more than Keegan Bradley wants to play in another Ryder Cup.
[announcer] …and Keegan Bradley!
[cheering and applause]
[Rapaport] Keegan Bradley has played in two Ryder Cups,
in 2012 at Medina and 2014 in Scotland.
But the US lost both times.
[crowd] Oh.
[Rapaport] So he has yet to be a part of a winning Ryder Cup team,
and ever since then, that's been his main goal.
[Bradley] I was in the final point in 2014,
and they won the point on my match.
[commentator] Now it is official. Keegan Bradley offers the handshake.
[cheering]
[players chanting]
[Bradley] It's heavy, man.
That's probably my lowest point in my career, was that moment,
and I would love to change that.
When I'm done and I've retired,
having a Ryder Cup win on my résumé versus a loss
would be a huge difference for me.
[Bradley] Jill, can you… can you grab me the bread?
[Jill] Yeah.
[Bradley] Growing up, I was so driven at what I was doing.
Getting married and having a family never popped into my mind.
This whole side of my life is such a bonus.
It's something that I wasn't prepared for. Now I couldn't imagine life without it.
[Jill] No, I do as little…
-'Cause it's… otherwise it gets messy. -Yeah.
And he comes home with a Joker face.
[Bradley] Can you tell me what a dinosaur says?
[whispers] Rwar.
Both Jill and I are both from New England, so we're both, uh, Boston sports fans.
Logan, who's your favorite football team?
The Patriots.
-That's what I'm talking about. -[Jill] Hey, come here--
[Logan] And the Buffalo Bills.
-Uh-uh. -[Jill] What?
-Yes! -[Bradley] No. No. No.
-[Jill] Since when? -[Logan] Yes!
You can like just about every team except the Buffalo Bills.
[Jill] The Ryder Cup means… so much to Keegan,
and he'll say it's some of the best and absolute worst memories of his life.
He still has the Ryder Cup suitcase.
He just never unpacked it.
I think it is just the thought of opening it,
reliving the grief of how that ended,
was just kind of too much to bear.
Are you ready?
[Bradley] I just hope, someday, I get to win a Ryder Cup and open that thing
and just have, like, a peace-of-mind moment,
because I'm thinking about the Ryder Cup every second of every day.
I have a chip on my shoulder. I gotta get back to where I wanna be.
-Bye. Love you. -[Jill] Love you.
-Bye, Coop. -[Cooper] Bye!
[Bradley] Doing my best to get back on that team for sure.
[commentator] A day when golf takes center stage at the WM Phoenix Open.
[Rapaport] In a Ryder Cup year,
every tournament is a chance to earn points and climb up the standings.
Every American and every European golfer
is focused on that from the get-go this year.
-[man] Take your shirt off, Joel! -[Dahmen] Fuck.
[laughing]
My parents always told me to think before you act.
Ah, whatever.
[commentator 2] Designated event. Strongest field of the year so far.
[commentator] 6-iron for Rickie at the seventh.
[cheering]
[commentator] Just go ahead and go in, Rickie Fowler!
The US is so deep, which we're fortunate for.
[commentator 2] That's a birdie for Scheffler.
[Thomas] We're so deep that there are going to be at least two or three players
that have an unbelievable argument and could easily swap in with anybody.
That's just the way it is.
-[commentator 3] Oh, Justin Thomas here. -[commentator] Great shot.
[commentator 2] That was superb, what he just hit.
[cheering]
[commentator] A bunch of familiar names at the top of the leaderboard
at the WM Phoenix Open,
and we know that the better you play, the more points you accumulate.
[suspenseful music playing]
[woman] You got it? Okay.
This is Augusta National Johnson for the Masters.
And then Augy, I mean Andy, is St. Andrews Johnson.
-There. -[woman] For what?
I don't know.
[Johnson laughs]
-Yeah. -[woman] Yep.
What else have I won two of?
The Masters.
[woman] He won the Masters. Yep.
And…
[Johnson] Wow, pumpkin.
-[woman] Wyatt, do you know? -Tell me.
Pretty sure he won the British.
-[woman] Pretty sure he won the British? -Pretty positive that he won the British.
[Abby] Oh, yeah, I knew that.
-[woman] Yeah. Did you? -[Abby] Yeah.
[Johnson] The best thing I've ever been associated with is the Ryder Cup.
It is legitimately my favorite thing in golf.
I'm grateful that I was consistent enough
and evidently worthy enough to play for the United States in five of them,
and every one of them, I cherish.
This is the best.
Southeast Iowa beef.
Shout-out to cow in my home state of…
Iowa!
Jeez!
[woman] I think being captain of the Ryder Cup
is something that maybe you dream of but don't talk about.
Like, you don't want to say it out loud, because it would, like, jinx it.
At least four salad bowls.
[Johnson] The committee got together and said, "We would love for Zach
to take over the Ryder Cup helm for 2023."
Certainly, being vice-captain on numerous teams helped,
and so, uh, I guess I was next in line.
But I had to kind of think about that.
[Kim chuckles]
I'm like, "What do you mean you didn't say yes?"
"What… what is there to talk about? Tell me what there is to talk about."
So Dad's not competing by himself, right? There's teams.
-It's the US-- -[Kim] Is Dad actually playing?
-No. Because he's-- -But have I ever?
-Yeah. -Oh, okay.
[Koyack] America hasn't won on European soil in 30 years.
Everything came together for the US side at the last Ryder Cup,
and there's a lot of people saying, "Wow, this US team could dominate
the Ryder Cup for the next eight to ten years."
So Scottie played in Whistling Straits.
-Patrick in Ex. -Who am I missing? Patrick in Ex.
-That was their first one? -Yeah.
[Bradley] There's a number of factors when making the picks.
Some of those factors, experience.
You want somebody that's playing great at that time.
How do they fit inside the team room?
Will they mesh… with the top six?
The last thing I want is to put any sort of potential for drama.
Wherever you came from, to me, is irrelevant.
In this instance, we're Team USA.
We're not team LIV. We're not team PGA TOUR.
We are Team USA.
[Kim] Since being named captain,
he's known he's going to have to make six picks.
He's known those picks will be on him, and he doesn't take the decisions lightly.
You guys like it more well done, so we're gonna go with this one here.
There's a long, long list of guys that we could take over there,
and I want to take 30,
but I can only take 12.
What is this?
The Johnson bistro is fancy.
-Yes, it is. -It's super salty but really good.
[dramatic music playing]
[ball bouncing]
Rotate.
[Thomas] Everybody wants to be on that Ryder Cup team.
I think about it all the time.
Loading that front-side glute. That's the key here.
[Thomas] It doesn't matter how good you are
and what you've accomplished.
You… you still have to make that team, and if you don't qualify for the team,
you have to get picked.
[man] Make sure you breathe out.
Remember, you're pushing your belly button…
[Thomas] You never know what'll happen. Just because I feel like I work harder
than other people doesn't mean I'm having good things happen.
You have to go execute and play well.
[dramatic music playing]
[Thomas] The Masters this year was… It was a bummer.
[commentator] Oh, he hit the left side of the slope.
Oh man, that's a bad break.
Man, Justin Thomas. Wow.
[Thomas] That was legitimately a place I felt I was never gonna miss the cut at.
[commentator 2] For par.
Disappointing drive there for Justin Thomas.
5-over in these last eight holes.
[Thomas] I was speechless. Um, I was beyond disappointed,
and it just was like a I-can't-believe- that-just-happened kind of thing.
Yeah. It sucked.
I think the Masters really set his season back.
I don't think that he'd missed the cut there before,
and I just think that was really disheartening for him.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Thomas] This year was… I mean, you can name a major and it went pretty poorly.
[man] Can you repeat?
-I'm gonna try to. -[man 2] Good luck, buddy.
[Thomas] The PGA was, I guess, the… the…
the least poorly of all the majors.
[strikes ball]
[commentator] If you miss the fairway, you are in big trouble.
That's in the marsh.
[Thomas] I was making the dumbest mistakes.
This is the bogey putt for Justin Thomas.
-Oh. -[crowd] Oh!
[commentator 2] Bit of a struggle out there for Justin today.
-[commentator] JT makes a double. -[applause]
It's definitely humbling. This game just doesn't owe you anything.
It's not like just because I've won X amount of times,
I feel like I'm going to win a lot more,
or, you know, I feel like I deserve it because of who I am.
That's just not a thing.
-[cheering and applause] -[commentator] Thomas rolls that one in.
And that will finish off the day.
[commentator 3] These guys, it's just a different game.
[Mike] His bad putting wasn't good enough. His bad driving wasn't good enough.
It was deflating because, you know,
our expectation is to finish higher than that
in any tournament, let alone a major.
We were excited about the U.S. Open, uh,
but it was another frustrating week for sure.
[commentator] Justin Thomas, believe it or not,
for birdie at the ninth.
For a second round of 80.
There's been only one round of 80 or more shot.
That came earlier today at 83.
And that is an 81 for Justin Thomas,
his second-highest round ever on the PGA TOUR.
-[applause] -[commentator 2] Really searching now.
[commentator] He is, you know. It's been that way for him all year.
[Mike] The Ryder Cup is definitely the elephant in the room.
I mean, that's a distraction,
when you're jumping ahead of all the events that are coming
and you start thinking about what's at the end,
and you can't play golf at that level with any kind of distraction.
It's definitely the lowest I've felt. It's pretty, honestly,
humiliating and embarrassing shooting scores like that. Uh…
Yeah, I don't know.
-Just gotta figure it out. -Thanks.
-Appreciate it. Thank you. -Appreciate it, y'all.
[Thomas] Hands down the worst tournament of my career.
I just feel like someone with my ability
should not even be capable of shooting scores like that.
The good part is it was so bad that it felt like a fluke, you know.
The Masters hurt way worse than the U.S. Open did.
The U.S. Open was like, "Dude, I just shot a million."
"Let's get out and play The Travelers next week and see what we can do."
"And it's a stupid sport I decided to play."
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] Final round at the Travelers Championship underway
here in New England.
[commentator 2] At seven, Justin Thomas, who shot 62 yesterday.
Has a birdie at seven.
[cheering and applause]
JT now in red figures for the day.
[commentator] Keegan Bradley back at the fourth fort.
Could be a three-shot lead.
[commentator 2] Oh my goodness. Look at this.
[commentator 3] A man in the zone.
[commentator] It's been lights-out all week.
[cheering and applause]
[commentator 4] Trying to get win six. Of course, another goal for him,
he said at the start of the year, "I want to play in the Ryder Cup."
[Bradley] All day long, I'm thinking in my head,
"Oh shit. You go win this tournament,
Ryder Cup. Like, it's there."
[crowd chanting] Keegan Bradley!
[rhythmic clapping]
Keegan Bradley!
[rhythmic clapping]
Keegan Bradley!
[rhythmic clapping]
[commentator] It's gonna be a very fulfilling finish.
-[man] It was his time. -It was, yes.
[commentator] And now, his family's here.
His wife, Jillian, and the boys, Logan and Cooper,
with a ringside seat to watch Dad pick up one of the biggest titles of his career.
[suspenseful music playing]
[cheering and applause]
[commentator] New England's very own takes the title at The Travelers!
Yes!
[commentator] Keegan Bradley, he now has as many titles, six,
as his beloved New England Patriots.
-[cheering] -Yeah!
-[woman] Hey, Keegs! -[man] Keegs!
[Jill] To win in front of the New England crowd,
in front of both of our families, it was perfect.
It's one of those tournaments that we'd go to every year,
and I know I just imagined picturing how cool it would be to win here.
It would just be the coolest… the coolest,
but you don't want to get your hopes up for that,
'cause that's just… that would just be perfect.
And that's exactly what that week was. Perfect.
My wife, Jillian, is the real champion of our family.
She holds us all together.
[cheering and applause]
[Bradley] I'm lucky in what I do in my life.
And sharing a win with my family,
it's moments like that that you… you're literally realizing your dreams,
and it's crazy.
[cheering]
[commentator] Keegan Bradley, he absolutely dominated today.
He is a true professional. And now, with two wins this season,
this definitely puts Keegan in a better position for the Ryder Cup.
-Hey, New England. Congrats, man. -Thanks, man. Thank you.
Congratulations.
-Happy for you guys. -[Jill] Thanks so much.
After winning Travelers, we're all excited, adrenaline,
and he whispered to me and goes,
"Do you want to go to Rome?"
And I was speechless. [chuckles]
[horn honks]
[Bradley] Like, "Get ready. We might be going." Like, just--
"You ready to go the Ryder Cup?" This has now become pretty serious.
[upbeat music playing]
[Fowler] Chef, what do we got, bud?
[chef] Beef tenderloin kebab
with a chimichurri sauce and saffron risotto.
[woman] You can have some tar… tartare.
-[Spieth] What do we got? -[Fowler] Hey, Jordan.
-Hey, guys. -Hey.
[Spieth] 'Sup kids? What'd you learn at school?
[Abby chuckles]
Everybody's favorite part of the day?
[Johnson] Probably beating Rickie.
Probably my least favorite part of the day.
[laughing]
[Johnson] Are you late or early Thursday?
Early. With Rick.
Who do you got?
I have, um… Jason Day and Fitzpatrick.
[Johnson] Oh. Which Fitzpatrick?
Matt.
-Dude works his ass off. -[Johnson] Yeah. He works hard, huh?
He's got that notebook with him everywhere he goes.
-[Johnson] It's wild. -What's he churning?
I don't know. I want to look at it.
[laughing]
-It's a secret. -[Spieth] Just wait until he goes in.
You know, for lunch or something, and then just grab it.
Like, "Hey, dude, can you do me a favor? Can you go give me that pen out there?"
Zach, if you had to rank the percentage chance
that everyone that plays professional golf in this room is on the Ryder Cup team,
what would you say are the chances?
[chuckling]
This'll turn into a rough week for Zach.
[Johnson] So many points out there. That's the answer.
Zach, dude, I saw you--
-There are still more elevated events. -Don't dodge the question.
I saw you at the range today. I thought your swing looked so good.
[Johnson] It's not just trying to pick the six best American players
off some index or list or whatever it may be.
You're trying to make this team the best.
I get the question, "Given the state of affairs in golf right now,
your job's… probably been a headache." I'm like, "Well, it hasn't."
Because nothing's changed, from my perspective.
The state of affairs with the PGA TOUR and what's going on, or not going on,
has no bearings, for the most part, on Team USA Ryder Cup.
So, uh, Brooks is probably going to make the team,
not have to get picked.
And so you're just wearing me out, man.
I want to get 12 guys that want to be together,
that make each other whole.
Where you came from is not as big a deal.
I would love for this team to win.
[somber music playing]
[Dethier] If I'm Keegan Bradley, you have to say,
"I hope I get the same fair shake as everyone else,
even if I might not be as close to the rest of the guys on the team."
I mean, everyone wants to be named to the Ryder Cup team, but
golf is such a mix, right?
It's a mix of these guys that are little bit more lone wolves
versus guys that are, you know, part of the in-crowd.
Hey. How's it going?
The Ryder Cup is on my mind every second.
-Miss you guys. -[Jill] We miss you too.
[Bradley] So I'm telling myself that I am the underdog here.
I still have to play my way onto this team.
I try to tell myself,
"If you don't qualify on your own, there's a good chance you're not on it."
The reality for me is I don't have
this connection to that group that a lot of the guys have,
so I know I have to go play well to get on this team.
[Dethier] If there's a sense that captains are gonna play favorites
or pick guys that are friends with the other guys,
that creates a weird dynamic.
Because these spots are so precious and they're so coveted,
the fact that they can be hand-selected,
that inevitably leads to controversy.
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] British summertime.
Final major of 2023 comes to the second-oldest links in England.
Justin Thomas, popular on both sides of the Atlantic, Bob.
[commentator 2] Ninth season as a professional for JT.
Number 20 in the world.
Will he put it all together here this week?
[commentator 3] Justin Thomas.
Oh, this ain't pretty.
[commentator] Justin Thomas having a really tough afternoon again.
[commentator 2] Cold streak continues for Justin Thomas.
[commentator] Just when you think it can't get any worse.
[commentator 2] He's going through something.
Everybody wants to help him get out of this slump.
[Rapaport] Justin Thomas has shown a lot in Ryder Cups in years past.
He's 6-2-1 in his Ryder Cup matches, which I believe is the best mark
for any American who's played at least two Ryder Cups,
but he's playing like doo-doo.
It has not been a good year by any stretch of the imagination.
It's bad timing. If you're going to slump, you want it to not be in a Ryder Cup year.
[commentator] He's having a good season, Keegan Bradley.
He might have a little look
into the US Ryder Cup team as well in September.
Came out spinning… somehow.
[commentator] Hasn't really gotten off to the start that he wanted here.
[light applause]
You never want to miss a cut at a major.
[Rapaport] You definitely don't want to miss a cut at a major
during a Ryder Cup year when you're on the bubble.
[commentator] Look where that ended up. That would be an awful spot.
[commentator] It's a horror story.
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator 2] I feel like this year, we've had as fun a storyline
as we've had in a few years.
Okay, let's change our attention to the Ryder Cup,
and I think Keegan's probably going to get picked.
-He's ten. -[commentator 3] Wow, okay.
[commentator 2] He's right on the… to me, he's floating right on that.
Is it gonna be Keegan? Is it gonna be JT?
[Bradley] Hey, Bill.
[commentator 2] Ultimately, it comes down to the captain's gut.
[Bradley] Oh yeah, two. I don't think that's that bad.
-I'll have to see. Any pin on the cross. -Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
-[Thomas] All right. Well, you're at four? -Yeah.
-[Thomas] Play well. -Yeah.
-[man] I brought it out today. -[Bradley] Oh.
-Here. -Hey, Grant.
[in British accent] You gotta use the handle, mate.
[man] Yeah. Don't kick the door.
[Thomas] Oh shit!
-He'll make more. -[woman] Thank you.
[Rapaport] Justin Thomas is the big question. If you choose him,
you are gonna have guys who finished ahead of him in the points
who are feeling like this isn't really a fair shake.
So there's a lot of intrigue on Thomas on whether he's gonna get a pick or not.
[reporter] How much of a concern is Justin Thomas's form at the moment?
As a friend, I'm concerned because he's my buddy and I know what he's capable of.
And, uh, bottom line is, this game's really hard.
There's… there's going to be peaks. There's gonna be some valleys.
Let's hope whatever sort of non-peak he's in, it's short.
-All right. -[reporter] See you, guys.
Doing the walk of shame right now.
[both chuckle]
Yeah. Yeah.
[pensive music playing]
[reporter] Justin Thomas, I just think it's gonna be tough for him
when you look at where he sits, currently 14th in the US Ryder Cup standings.
The form isn't there now, and I guess the question boils down to,
"Is it form or is it history for Justin Thomas?"
[reporter 2] He's… he's not done… anything to deserve a spot.
His play is not deserving of a spot right now.
[Johnson] This is… one of the harder captaincies as of late.
As far as Justin, I know his play is not indicative as to the talent,
and this is a situation where communication is paramount.
So JT and I are communicating quite often.
But I mean, there's really only two outcomes right?
He either plays or he doesn't.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Thomas] I literally lie awake at night
and can't freaking sleep thinking about the Ryder Cup
and thinking about… wanting to play better
and why what's going on is what's going on?
I haven't played here since 2016,
but just given the current situation I'm in, I need to need to play.
If I don't make the playoffs, it's kind of, uh…
I mean, it's totally out of my hands.
I would need, I would think, a lot of luck and a lot of trust in Zach.
You know, you could argue 16 to 18 guys are deserving to be on that team.
I'm very fortunate that I have a good Ryder Cup record.
I don't need to explain to anybody how much Ryder Cups mean to me.
So I'm really hoping that I just play well enough the rest of the year
to where it's not… I don't have to have, you know,
my fingers and toes crossed all at once and hope for the best,
but, uh, it is what it is.
[Rapaport] The Wyndham Championship is the last regular season event of the year.
In years past, Justin had already qualified for the playoffs,
so he would take that week off and rest up before the playoffs.
But this year he's not qualified, so Wyndham is his last opportunity
to play his way into the playoffs and to show Zach Johnson,
the Ryder Cup captain, "I'm playing well enough to be on this team."
I'm sure Justin is thinking, "Am I not gonna make one of these teams
when I'm 30 years old in the prime of my career?"
[Thomas] The Wyndham this year is a unique opportunity
and scenario to be in,
but I should have played well enough to make the playoffs anyway.
But now, I need to play whatever I can to get in the playoffs.
[reporter] Hello, my man.
Can you watch this?
And tell me what you're thinking?
[commentator] Justin Thomas, the 16-year-old amateur.
[commentator 2] 6-under-par, two off the lead. What a day for him.
[Thomas] The Wyndham's a very, very special spot.
-[commentators chuckle] -[commentator 2] Beautiful swing.
[commentator 3] He made that look easy. It was not that easy.
[commentator] He made history today as the third youngest ever
to make the cut on the PGA TOUR.
[Thomas] That will always be the first tour event
I ever played in, the first event I made the cut in.
You know, at 16 years old, I looked like I'm literally 100 pounds soaking wet.
I mean, my belt is just keeping my life together.
[reporter] It'll still be one shot at a time, one hole at at time?
Yeah. I mean, same as every tournament and every time.
I'm just gonna do the best I can.
[applause]
[reporter] Given the position you're in,
do you hope to have that 16-year-old mentality, then?
Man, it's just, you know, a game of golf, and I'm trying to learn now
like I was trying to learn then, and, uh,
I'm really, really close to playing some really, really good golf,
and if I don't play well this week,
then I'm not gonna be able to show that for a while.
I just wanna go out and get in contention and have the potential
to have one of the coolest endings in a season of a PGA TOUR.
[suspenseful music playing]
[commentator] The regular season comes down to this
as we make our way through this final day of the Wyndham Championship.
Justin Thomas trying to make it to the playoffs,
which is top 70 this year,
and he still has a chance to qualify for those playoffs.
[applause]
[commentator] He is currently outside of that top 70 spot.
He has never missed the playoffs in his career on the PGA TOUR.
[commentator 2] No breathing room.
[commentator] For eagle.
[man] It's going in there!
-[commentator] And… eagle! -[cheering and applause]
[commentator 2] Look at that!
[commentator] Let me not get too far ahead.
But you make an eagle and you move up one notch.
[Thomas] This is the best time of year, if you're relying on a pick,
to show why you should be a pick.
I made an unbelievable putt for eagle
to get myself right where I had a great chance and needed to be.
[commentator] He is the bubble boy.
[commentator 2] A lot on the line.
[commentator 3] Big drive here for Justin Thomas.
[commentator] Yes, it is.
Oh, he's trying to play a cut. It's not going to make its way back.
He knows… he can't make a mistake here.
-Wow. -[commentator 2] Oh man.
[commentator 3] Doing everything he possibly can.
[commentator] Sensational.
[applause]
[commentator] Things change based on what else is going on.
So he comes to the hole.
He's gonna need a birdie now to at least be 70th and make the playoffs.
Par would be 71st.
Bogey, he would drop back to 77nd.
He just knows he needs to give it everything he's got.
[Johnson] That's a hard shot.
[commentator] He has to make this.
For birdie, to make it to the playoffs.
-[crowd] Oh! -[commentator] Come on now!
You can't be serious!
[cheering applause]
[commentator] No way!
An incredible effort.
High drama… and that close.
[Thomas] Yeah, just came up, obviously, one…
one shot short, but I gave it a hell of a fight.
[commentator] And Justin Thomas is gonna come up one spot
out of the mix.
It's a cruel game sometimes.
[Thomas] When things aren't going your way, they're just not going your way.
That's just the kind of shit that happens.
The season hasn't exactly gone how I've wanted,
and I tried so hard to stay in that frame of mind of,
"This will be the round, the tournament."
"Good things are gonna start happening. I'm playing good. Getting zero out of it."
"Just keep waiting, keep staying patient." And I just felt like, unfortunately,
right there at the last tournament, where I started to see
some really, really good signs, um, the season was over.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Thomas] I haven't gotten to where I'm here in the middle of the night just yet.
It's just so relaxing.
It's, uh, you know, it kind of eases your mind a little bit
and makes you not think about everything else that's going on.
It's been it's been a wild year. Been a, you know, up and…
mostly down year, but, um…
I understand the position that I put myself in. I hate it.
I can't stop thinking about it.
It's the first time I've ever not qualified,
and having to wait on a pick,
yeah, it sucks.
JT. J Tizzle.
Is he best for the 2023 Ryder Cup team?
I don't know. And he knows that.
He knows that he might be playing, and he might not be playing.
I just wish I could make it easier on them and didn't have to have it be a decision,
but it's, unfortunately, out of my hands at this point.
-That was a hard-- -My heart is beating… so fast.
[line ringing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Bradley] Here it is.
[line ringing]
[phone ringing]
[line ringing]
-Should I just call Justin? -Sure.
[line ringing]
[Thomas] Hey.
[Johnson] J Tizzle.
[Thomas] What up?
I'm just gonna cut straight to the chase, my friend.
[dramatic music playing] ht to the chase, my friend.