(Provided by Tennis World USA)
For Zach Johnson, captain of the USA at the Ryder Cup in Rome, one of the main unknowns in view of the challenge against team Europe, scheduled at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club from 29 September to 1 October next, is represented by Justin Thomas.
In a crisis of play and results, the 2-time Major champion (he won the Pga Championship in both 2017 and 2022) risks his place and can only hope for one of the six wild cards available to Johnson.
Justin Thomas, results
Out to the cut at The Masters, the US Open and, last week, The Open, the 30-year-old from Louisville will be forced to return to the court this week at the 3M Open in Minnesota to try and qualify for the Pga Tour play-offs which will see the top 70 players (currently Thomas is 75th) participate in the FedEx St.
Jude Championship from August 10-13. “I want Ryder more than anything. I’m having a tough time, which reminds me of my first year as a pro.I will give everything to convince Zach even if at this moment my sacrifices are not bearing the desired results”, the declarations of Thomas among the protagonists of the USA both in Paris 2018 and in Wisconsin in 2021.The competition, which takes its name from the trophy donated by the Englishman Samuel Ryder (1858–1936) to the American federation in 1924, is co-managed by the European Tour and the PGA of America.From 1927 to 1971 the tournament was played between the selection of the United States and that of Great Britain, with a clear American dominance (15-3) and only one draw.
Ireland was incorporated into Great Britain in 1973 and the rest of continental Europe in 1979. Following the acceptance of the European team as the antagonist of the US one, the tournament was much more balanced: from 1979 to 2018, in fact, there were eleven wins for Europe, eight for the United States and only one draw.The Ryder Cup is hosted alternately on the two continents: for Europe, British golf courses have always been chosen, with the exception of the 1997 edition, held at the Valderrama Golf Club (Spain) in honor of the former Spanish golfer Severiano Ballesteros , that of 2018, which was played in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (France), and that of 2023, which will be played at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club (Italy).
After the 1999 edition, due to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, until the 2018 edition the Ryder Cup was always staged in even years. The 2020 edition was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Ryder Cup is re-run in odd numbered years.Among the European ranks it is worth noting the presence, on three different occasions (1993, 1995 and 1997), of one of the most famous Italian players in the history of golf, Costantino Rocca, remembered for his famous hole in one during the edition of the 1995.
The Italians Francesco Molinari and Edoardo Molinari were instead the first brothers to compete for the European team in the same Ryder Cup, thanks to their simultaneous participation in the 2010 edition. Francesco Molinari also took part in the 2012 editions, in the United States , and 2018, in France.The current champion selection is the US team, which won the title in the 2021 edition.
