Justin Thomas’ difficult season continued at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club.
Thomas, despite posting a par 71 on Friday, missed the cut at the English Open after his opening round 82. This marks the third major he has missed the cut this season and takes his total score in those four events to 41-over.
“I’m hitting a lot of good shots,” Thomas said. “I’m just making so many stupid mistakes and crazy things [are] happening, and I’ll be fine.”
Thomas has won the PGA Tour 15 times in his career, most recently last year’s PGA Championship. He made the cut in his title defense there earlier this spring, but finished T65. It was the only major he made the cut this year.
Thomas is running out of time to fix his slump this season, and that could affect both his FedExCup playoff status and his Ryder Cup chances.
Thomas entered the week ranked 13th in the Ryder Cup standings, well below the top 6 automatic qualifying spots. The top six golfers after the BMW Championship next month will automatically earn a place on the team for the event in Italy this autumn. Captain Zach Johnson will pick the remaining six players to complete the squad.
Thomas played on two previous Ryder Cup teams and holds an impressive 6-2-1 record. But with the way he’s been playing, Thomas knows he’s running out of time, especially considering he could miss the FedExCup playoffs.
“I’ve been trying to make it easy for Zach to make the top six, but I don’t seem to want to do that with my golf,” Thomas said. “A few events left to try to make the playoffs and then run around a bit and try to prove a point.”
Johnson, who was 2 short on Friday and busted in Hoylake, England, is still not ruling out Thomas.
“Well, as a friend and roommate, I’m just concerned because he’s my friend and I know what he’s capable of and that kind of thing,” Johnson said. “Obviously he is an asset in this event, right. … In short, this game is very difficult. There will be spikes. There will be some vouchers. Let’s hope that whatever kind of spike he’s on is going to be a short one. I know he has a great team. I love his trainers. I love how it – it works. He is a worker.
“Guys with talent like that who work and aren’t afraid to put their work in the dirt, if you want it, not to be clichéd, you can usually find it. It’s just a matter of when, not if. He’s too good. I might be a little worried, as I said, as a friend, but I’m not worried about him because I know what he does and I know what he’s capable of.”
Thomas among notables who missed the cut at the British Open
Thomas wasn’t the only big name to miss the cut this week at Royal Liverpool.
Top 70 golfers and ties made it to the weekend at the British Open, which eliminated golfers who finished 4 higher or worse after 36 holes.
Dustin Johnson had perhaps the worst exit at the British Open. After his 3-over opening round, Johnson took 81 for 10 on Friday to bring him up to 13 for the week. He finished with five bogeys on his last eight holes. Only nine players finished with a worse score.
Phil Mickelson missed the cut in a second consecutive major championship. Mickelson, despite birding the 18th, made 3 over on Friday and dropped to 9 over for the week. He was in solid position on Thursday until the final two holes, where he went 5-over with a double and triple bogey to end his opening round.
Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Talor Gooch and Joaquin Niemann also missed the cut.
Several golfers managed to sneak into the weekend on Friday. Scottie Scheffler made the cut in numbers with a huge bunker up and down in the 18th, which extended his cutting streak to 22 events.
Bryson DeChameau, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Cantlay and Brooks Koepka were also part of the number. Defending champion Cam Smith made an eagle on the 18th to go 2-over for the week as well.
Brian Harman holds the lead at the halfway point after his 6-under performance on Friday. Harman jumped to 10-under for the week, which gave him a five-stroke lead over Tommy Fleetwood.