At 32 years old, Justin Thomas struggles to think of himself as one of the “veterans” on this year’s American Ryder Cup squad, wincing at the thought.
“I think I associate the veteran with an older player, and I’m just not quite ready for that yet,” Thomas said Tuesday. But with 2025 being his fourth Ryder Cup appearance, Thomas is the elder statesman of sorts for Team USA and has already become a shoulder to lean on for some of the “rookies” at this year’s competition.
The U.S. has four players on this year’s team who are making their first appearance at the Ryder Cup, making a player like Thomas an invaluable resource. He brings a wealth of experience to the squad along with a bit of success.
He had been the leading points scorer for the United States in his Ryder Cup debut in 2018 and was a large part of the title-winning team in 2021 at Whistling Straits. He has compiled a 3-0-0 record in singles play during his Ryder Cup career and enters this year’s competition with an overall record of 7-4-2.
Russell Henley said Thomas had been helpful in little aspects of the game, as well as being someone who has brought “an encouraging and fun attitude” to the group.
J.J. Spaun, this year’s U.S. Open winner, described how talking with Thomas in particular helped put him at ease about being part of this year’s squad.
“I’ve talked to J.T. quite a bit, and he’s like: You earned your spot on this team, don’t feel like this is a handout or a pick. You have a major that a lot of us are very jealous of, and you deserve to be on this team,” Spaun said. “I think hearing that has helped me feel like I fit in more as a core player than a rookie that is just trying to make some sort of impact. So I think that’s huge for my confidence.”
Though Thomas later added that he recognizes he is one of the leaders on the American side, he was quick to point out that leadership is going to come from a number of the players.
“I’m going to be anything that I feel like I need to be for this team, for certain players, for the captains,” he said. “Yeah, I know that I’m one of the leaders on the team, but I don’t think there’s necessarily one person on the team the last handful or couple times I’ve been on that I’m like, this is the person that when in doubt, you’re looking at them like what do we do or what’s going on kind of thing.
“I think that’s kind of what has made this group, this age group or whatever you want to call it, a little bit different and special.”