Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas outside FedExCup top 70 as Playoffs loom

Only two weeks remain in the PGA TOUR’s Regular Season, and two of the biggest names in American golf are still trying to turn things around in time to make the FedExCup Playoffs.

They’re also making their first career starts at this week’s 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, making a push over the final fortnight to crack the top 70 in the standings and qualify for golf’s postseason.

Justin Thomas (No. 75 in the FedExCup) and Billy Horschel (No. 119), members of last year’s victorious U.S. Presidents Cup Team and two former FedExCup champions, are on the outside looking in for the first stop of the three-week Playoffs. The FedEx St. Jude Championship will feature a newly reduced 70-man field at TPC Southwind on Aug. 10-13 outside Memphis, Tennessee.

“I really feel like great things are coming,” said Thomas, who won the FedExCup in 2017 but has been searching on the greens, going left-hand low at the Genesis Scottish Open (T60). He is 159th in Strokes Gained: Putting, has notched just three top-10s this season and is in danger of missing the Playoffs for the first time since he started on the PGA TOUR in 2015.

“Obviously I've had not very many results or not much positive to show,” said Thomas, who shot 82-71 in last week’s Open Championship. “You know, I've played a lot better golf than I feel like the scores and finishes have shown.”

Indeed, Thomas – winner of 15 PGA TOUR titles including two PGA Championships – has had a poor summer. He shot a second-round 81 at the U.S. Open, leading to a missed cut, after which he said he wasn’t injured and that all would be forgotten if he won The Open Championship. But he shot in the 80s again at The Open, and, destined to miss his fourth cut in six starts, admitted he spent the second round at Royal Liverpool (an even-par 71) focusing on preparation for the 3M.

“I have full faith that he's going to snap out of it,” said defending 3M Open champion Tony Finau, who called Thomas a generational talent. “I played with him last week at The Open the first couple days. He's playing some quality golf; he's getting some tough breaks. Hitting a couple more errant shots than I'm used to him hitting, … but this game is so fickle.

“You're never as far off as you think,” he added, “and he's definitely not.”

Thomas has been on every U.S. Ryder and Presidents Cup team since 2017 but is 14th on the points list for U.S. Captain Zach Johnson’s team that will travel to Rome in October. With the Playoffs and Ryder Cup in the balance, Thomas will play in next week’s Wyndham Championship as well as the 3M. Neither was on his schedule at the start of the season.

“I’m very, very close,” he said.

Horschel, whose slump resulted from trying to make off-season swing changes that didn’t work, has tried everything from beating balls to benching his razor to change his mojo.

“I think maybe my wife, Brittany, mentioned you should just grow the beard back, see if that changes up the game a little bit,” he said. “Maybe that's why I just didn't shave.”

At the very least, Horschel added, the beard hasn’t made his game any worse. And he reports having eliminated the “big miss” that plagued him this season, leading to calamity at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. In his title defense, Horschel shot an opening 84 in which he hit two greens in regulation and lost 10.807 in SG: Tee-to-Green.

“My confidence is the lowest it’s been in my entire career,” he said, eyes flooded with tears in an interview that was so raw and vulnerable that it went viral.

That night, messages flooded into his phone from well-wishers who’d seen the emotional clip. They told him to keep his head held high; that he was too good a player to stay down for long.

Encouraged by the outpouring of support, Horschel made six birdies and shot 72 the next day.

“Sharing that with the public – not something I planned on doing, it just happened – I think it sort of just sort of rebalanced everything,” he said. “Recentered everything, sort of started from scratch. From there I felt like I've been in a lot better of a mental spot, a lot better clear mind.

“The results don't show it,” he added, “but I've played a lot more quality golf since then.”

His wife and kids will be joining him for the 3M in Minnesota, where he’s making his first start.

“I'm not stressing about it,” said Horschel, who is still exempt for next season by virtue of his 2022 Memorial win. “If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I get a month off at home before I go over and play in Europe for about four or five weeks. I'm more focused on trying to get my game and get the game back to where I want it to be, get back to playing quality golf, get back to being in contention to win tournaments.”