Justin Thomas’ Vision Of Reaching #1 Ranking Affects His Sunday Match Play

Justin Thomas was rolling through the WGC Dell Match Play brackets in fairly easy fashion. He won his brackets by 7 and 5, 3 and 1, 2-up, 6 and 5 and 2 and 1.

However, once news came down Thomas could overtake Dustin Johnson’s #1 World Ranking by reaching the final match, he honestly admitted the pressure derailing his play versus eventual winner Bubba Watson in the semi-finals.

GolfWorld’s Shane Ryan reports on the how much the potential ranking (and probable fatigue) doomed Justin’s chances. Hell, the 36-holes Saturday and Sunday after 54 holes Wednesday thru Friday gave nearly all the participants tired legs and brains.

“I haven’t had such a hard time not thinking about something so much,” Thomas said.

And if that sentiment was a little difficult to parse at first, what he said next brooked no ambiguity:

“And that really sucked. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, to be perfectly honest.”

The response was stunning in its understated way, not because of the content (which was completely understandable) but because it actually came out of JT’s mouth. Ninety-eight percent of golfers, in the same situation and regardless of the truth, would have answered with a series of cliches: “I was focused on my match against Bubba Watson. The No. 1 ranking would have been nice, but that’s not what I was thinking about out there. I’m disappointed to lose this match, and the chance to win the tournament. If I play well, the ranking will take care of itself.”

Thomas’ forthright answer is rare, and it leads to a tricky situation. There will be at least a few stories with a headline like this one, honing in on that one reply. Thomas may eventually decide that it would have been easier to lie—to give the media boilerplate and snuff the oxygen out of the story. But I hope he doesn’t, because this is more interesting, and more human, and more relatable. (In his shoes, who wouldn’t have been thinking about attaining the top world ranking?)

One last thought; playing for 3rd place sucks after all that golf. Why not just split 3rd and 4th money and eliminate a match no one cares the least bit?