Zach Johnson has included Justin Thomas among his captain's picks for the USA Ryder Cup team.
By his own high standards, Thomas has endured one of the most disappointing seasons of his career, with his best finish of fourth position coming at the Phoenix Open at the beginning of the year.
The 30-year-old also missed the cut at three of the four majors, while he finished in 65th spot at the US PGA Championship.
However, Johnson has taken the decision to select the two-time major champion as one of six captain's picks, with the other contentious name being that of Sam Burns.
Since winning the WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play in March, Burns has recorded just two top-10 finishes, albeit one of those counts as the 72-hole score at last week's Tour Championship.
Burns will be making his debut on the American team, and he is joined in the side by the more experienced names of Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler.
Book the tickets, gentlemen ✈
— Ryder Cup USA (@RyderCupUSA) August 29, 2023
With his six Captain's Picks, @ZachJohnsonPGA selects:
🇺🇸@BKoepka
🇺🇸@JordanSpieth
🇺🇸@collin_morikawa
🇺🇸@RickieFowler
🇺🇸@JustinThomas34
🇺🇸@SamBurns66 pic.twitter.com/V7PbDlzaZZ
Despite now representing LIV Golf, Koepka had been expected to be picked having won the US PGA Championship in May, backing up his second-placed finish at the Masters.
The six players named on Tuesday join the half-a-dozen that qualified automatically, those being Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa and Xander Schauffele.
Luke Donald will name his six European picks on September 4, but four of the six qualifiers through the points lists have already been confirmed.
On Tuesday, it was confirmed that Tyrrell Hatton would be joining Rory McIlroy, John Rahm and recently-crowned Fedex Cup winner Viktor Hovland.
Darren Plant
