The WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event boasts a strong field for its final showing in Austin, Texas, this week, but Justin Thomas won’t be among them.
While 64 of the top 77 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will tee off on Wednesday in the five-day event, Thomas cited his “really bad” play as a reason to take a pass.
Thomas is coming off a T10 at the Valspar Championship this past weekend at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla. He’s the only player in the Top 10 — aside from banned LIV golfers — who will not be in this week’s field.
“(Innisbrook) is a place I love. I really, really love the golf course,” Thomas said. “I just I feel like I have a really good chance to win there if I go play. I just, I simply don’t feel that way about Austin Country Club. It’s nothing against the course. I’ve just, I’ve played it six times and I’ve played it really bad five of them.”
Thomas advanced out of the round-robin stage just once in six WGC events at Austin.
Austin is losing its PGA Tour stop after this week. It will be replaced in 2024 by the Cadence Bank Houston Open, an event not associated with the World Golf Championships.
Austin Country Club has played host to a WGC event since 2016, with the once premier series going by the wayside in recent years since bursting on the scene in 1999.
In 2021, the WGC-Mexico Open was converted to a regular PGA Tour event. Also in 2021, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude became the first event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
–Field Level Media