Presidents Cup omission inspires Justin Thomas ahead of new season

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Justin Thomas was on vacation when he got the call.

U.S. Presidents Cup Captain Jim Furyk was on the other line, informing Thomas that he wouldn’t be on the team that traveled to Royal Montreal Golf Club.

Thomas’ response?

“Pretty sure I ordered a beer at lunch,” he said Wednesday. “I needed that one.”

Had he been home, Thomas said he would have headed directly to the range. But that had to wait until he returned to south Florida. Being left off a U.S. Team for the first time since 2016 offered plenty of inspiration.

“I haven't had the opportunity to play pissed off for awhile, so I'm pretty excited to play a little pissed off this year,” he said Wednesday.

It’s worked thus far. He’s finished second (ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP) and third (Hero World Challenge) in two starts after the Presidents Cup.

Thomas has something else to be happy about. Despite going winless for a second consecutive season in 2024, Thomas gets to begin the new year at The Sentry. It’s a tournament that he’s won twice (2017, '20) but one that he had to miss last year after the worst year of his career. It was another event that he wasn’t happy about watching on TV, saying this week that “it sucked” to be sitting at home while his peers enjoyed Maui’s warm weather and the unique challenge of the severe slopes that highlight Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course.

“I’m glad to be back,” he said.

When Thomas first played The Sentry, there were just 32 players in the field.

That’s because there was only one way to get in: Win. The tournament was only open to PGA TOUR winners from the previous year. Much has changed in the nine years since. The Sentry’s qualification criteria, and its place in the schedule, are different.

Now that The Sentry is the first of this season’s eight Signature Events, the top 50 in the previous season’s FedExCup standings also are eligible, nearly doubling the size of the field compared to when Thomas first played. Unlike Thomas’ Sentry debut, this tournament also represents the opening tournament of the new season, not just the calendar year. The Sentry kicks off the PGA TOUR’s Opening Drive, the back-to-back weeks in Hawaii to begin the 2025 campaign.

The increased field is good news for Thomas, and the juniors who partook in the junior clinic he hosted earlier this week. Living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, those kids have limited opportunities to see the world’s best players.

“They're ecstatic when as many of us can come here as possible,” Thomas said. “So I think it's better for the tournament, it's just better for everything. And it's also better for me, selfishly, because I'm here this year, so I like that part.”

The fact is that this year’s edition of The Sentry, if using its former criteria, would be missing many of the game’s biggest names. That’s because Thomas isn’t the only well-known player who endured a winless 2024. Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg, Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris, Sahith Theegala, Sam Burns, Adam Scott and Matt Fitzpatrick are among the players who didn’t win in 2024 but are at The Sentry after finishing in the top 50 of the FedExCup standings.

There are myriad reasons for a winless season. Chalk it up to the vagaries of the game, or simply a few ill-timed shots on Sundays. Some players, like Morikawa, contended often and had copious opportunities. Others dealt with injuries or struggled with their swings. It’s also a testament to the difficulty of the task. If it was easy, as they say, everyone would do it.

“I truly felt like I was going to win multiple times every season pretty much, until I lost it a little bit,” said Thomas, who last won at the 2022 PGA Championship. “It's just so hard to win out here.”

Thomas didn’t count out the possibility of a big 2025, however. His career high of five victories came in his FedExCup-winning season of 2017. Scottie Scheffler won seven PGA TOUR titles in 2024, as well as the Olympics and Hero World Challenge, and Thomas believes he could produce something similar.

“I understand it's not realistic in the percentages and the likeliness of it, it's probably not, but I still fully believe that I can have a year like Scottie just had,” Thomas said. “I think I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't think I could at least do that.”

A little added motivation could be just what he needed.