Justin Thomas was picked for the U.S. Ryder Cup group regardless of a poor season on the course.
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Golf teacher Hank Haney, former coach to at least one Tiger Woods, hasn’t shied away from sharing his opinions since parting methods with the 15-time main champ a few years in the past, each on his social media channels and his eponymous golf podcast.
And these opinions are sometimes controversial ones. But this week he’s putting a chord with many golf followers over the most popular debate throughout the golf world: Justin Thomas’ choice as a captain’s pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup group.
After captain Zach Johnson formally introduced his choices on Tuesday afternoon (Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Sam Burns and Justin Thomas), Haney took to X (previously is aware of as Twitter) to share his ideas on the picks.
“It didn’t matter who Zach Johnson picked the USA team will be heavily favored but those picks confirm it’s the Boys Club.”
Haney’s tweet appeared to suggest that the U.S. group is ignoring on-course efficiency in making picks in favor of issues like shut private relationships and camaraderie. The opinion obtained its fair proportion of supporters and detractors, the latter highlighted by Colt Knost.
“But Europe is so successful in the Ryder Cup bc of their ‘team camaraderie! Or ‘boys club’ as some might call it!!”
While Haney didn’t specify a specific participant in his tweet, the obvious elephant within the room is Thomas. While the two-time main champion has been a fixture on the final two U.S. Ryder Cup groups, he struggled mightily on the course this season. He didn’t win, earned solely three top-10 finishes and ended up 71st within the FedEx Cup standings.
As a consequence, Thomas dropped all the best way to No. 15 within the U.S. Ryder Cup standings. Despite that actuality, Thomas was chosen for the group over gamers in entrance of him within the standings, together with Denny McCarthy (No. 14), Keegan Bradley (No. 11) and Cameron Young (No. 9).
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It seems that Haney laid out his reasoning for why the U.S. captains ought to have left Thomas off the group on the most recent episode of the “Hank Haney Podcast,” which was launched final week earlier than the captain’s picks have been introduced.
“First off, they love Justin because he’s their buddy,” Haney argued. “You know what? I like Justin Thomas. I’m a huge Justin Thomas fan. I think Justin Thomas is a great player, he’s won two major championships… Justin Thomas is one of my absolute favorites. He’s a gentleman. He’s a great guy, but he isn’t playing any good.”
While acknowledging Thomas’ resume and his spectacular play at earlier group occasions, Haney’s rivalry is that the first motive Thomas was picked for the group is as a result of he’s shut private mates with not simply different gamers on the group, however among the different captain’s picks, corresponding to Spieth and Fowler.
Because of these friendships, Johnson and the U.S. assistant captains neglected Thomas’ main struggles on the golf course, as he highlighted on the podcast.
“He didn’t make the FedEx Cup Playoffs! Come on, I mean, really?” Haney mentioned.
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Young was a very evident omission, provided that he was ranked throughout the top-10 within the U.S. group standings. And he wasn’t simply ranked above Thomas. He additionally completed forward of Morikawa, Fowler and Burns.
Johnson admitted to the problem of leaving him off the group throughout his Tuesday press convention.
“All of my phone calls were difficult. That goes without saying. It’s part of what I was warned about when it came to those and my vice-captains that have sat in this seat before,” Johnson mentioned on Tuesday. “It did keep me up at night having to make those phone calls, specifically Cam [Young]. Phenomenal player, better person. He was nothing but class.”
The Ryder Cup formally will get underway Friday, September 29, at Marco Simone in Rome, Italy.
