Self-described "golf nerd" Justin Thomas watched the finish of every major championship this year from afar.
Way, way afar.
Thomas missed the cut at the Masters, U.S. Open and last week's British Open and he tied for 65th at the PGA Championship. The former No. 1 player in the world now is 24th in the official rankings and headed Thursday to play the 3M Open for the first time.
He's still searching to make next month's FedEx Cup playoffs and September's Ryder Cup in Rome.
"I've literally watched all four major winners play their entire final round," he said Tuesday at the TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. "That's not what you want to be. You want to be the one that's being watched. There's a lot of people if they're not playing they don't want to watch, but I'm a golf fan."
He took notes on Brooks Koepka's unflappable demeanor in winning the PGA in May.
"I was like, that's how I want to be, how I want to act when I'm out there playing in majors," said Thomas, a two-time PGA Championship winner himself, as recently as 2022.
On Sunday, he watched Brian Harman's runaway victory at Royal Liverpool. He mentioned how Harman and his caddie were "in their own little world under that umbrella."
"As a fan, I like to watch, but if I can learn a thing or two, that's great," Thomas said.
He also watched Jon Rahm win the Masters and Wyndham Clark the U.S. Open.
Now Thomas comes to Blaine and next week's Wyndham Championship needing to jump from 75th in the FedEx Cup rankings to 70th if he's going to make the playoffs. He's 14th in the U.S. Ryder Cup standings in which the top six players automatically qualify.
Thomas on Friday added the 3M Open to his schedule after he shot 82-71 and missed the British Open cut. On Monday, he entered the regular season's final event, the Wyndham in North Carolina. The field is cut to 50 after the St. Jude Classic, to 30 who make the Tour Championship after the the second of three events.
"They weren't originally on the schedule, but things change and you have to adjust sometimes," he said. "In the past, I may have been able to rely on a good first event or two in the playoffs. Now you have to play some good golf to be in the playoffs and I haven't exactly done that so far. I have two weeks to get myself in a good spot."
This is just his second time in Minnesota. His first was a secret practice round at Hazeltine National Golf Club that Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III organized for U.S. players he considered for the 2016 team there.
"I thought this was my first time in Minnesota, I forgot that," Thomas said. "I haven't been here since then. … I haven't been able to come here [to the 3M Open] in the past, but I'm glad that worked out this year.
"I'm excited for the week. I feel like great things are coming."
He didn't make that 2016 team, but did in 2018 and 2021. He has a 6-2-1 Ryder Cup record.
Thomas said he wants to make the Ryder Cup team "more than anything. I'm probably honestly trying to do too much."
The top six points winners qualify. U.S. captain Zach Johnson picks the other six.
"Bottom line, this game is really hard," Johnson told reporters Friday at the British Open. "Guys with talent like that who aren't afraid to put their work in the dirt typically find it. It's just a matter of when, not if. I'm not worried about him because I know what he does and I know what he's capable of."
Thomas' season has included three top 10s and five missed cuts in 18 events. He missed the cut at the Memorial Tournament and the U.S. Open consecutively after a second-round 81 at Los Angeles C.C. The next week, he tied for ninth at the Travelers, a finish he said could have been as high as second.
Thomas, in his ninth season on the PGA Tour, has never missed the playoffs. He has advanced to the Tour Championship in each of the last seven seasons and finished in the top 10 in the standings in the last six, including his FedExCup title in 2017.
"J.T. will be just OK, J.T. is one of the most talented guys out there," four-time major winner Rory Mcllroy told reporters Friday at the British Open. "That's golf. We all go through bad patches. There's not one player in the world who hasn't."
Thomas' game has fluctuated between the verge of winning to Friday's 82 that included a quadruple bogey and two double bogeys.
"That's literally middle-school golf type stuff," Thomas said. "I'm way too good of a player to be doing stuff like that. I don't know if it's a lack of focus or discipline or whatever."
Defending 3M Open champion Tony Finau played with Thomas the first two rounds at the British Open.
"He's playing some quality golf, he's getting some tough breaks," Finau said Tuesday in Blaine. "Hitting a couple more errant shots than I'm used to him hitting. This game is so fickle. You're never as far off as you think and he's definitely not. … J.T.'s going to be more than fine. He'll find his form.
"It's crazy in our sport, how fast we forget how great someone like J.T. is."
Thomas has consulted pals Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, all of whom went through longer slumps.
"They've been very helpful and very great friends during this," Thomas said. "It's being viewed as it is because of the player I am. I take pride in that. I know I can get out of it just fine. I have a lot of faith and belief in myself to know this is just a challenge and opportunity to grow, to get better and come out of this even better than I have been."
