Zach Johnson dodges awkward LIV Golf question as he names Ryder Cup picks

United States Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson overlooked the poor form of Justin Thomas and selected the 30-year-old as one of his wildcard picks.

Ben Smith

29 Aug 2023

Zach Johnson dodges awkward LIV Golf question as he names Ryder Cup picks

United States Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson has overlooked the poor form of Justin Thomas and selected the 30-year-old as one of his captain's picks - along with LIV Golf's Brooks Koepka.

Johnson's picks were leaked on 28 August and the news Thomas was selected has already raised a few eyebrows.

Thomas wasn't one of the top 70 players on the PGA Tour this year and missed three out of four cuts in the majors.

Yet he is widely considered to be the heartbeat of Team USA and is thought of as the Americans' answer to Ian Poulter, boasting an impressive record in both the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup.

Johnson named his captain's picks on 29 August.

PGA Tour winner BLASTS Zach Johnson's decision to pick Justin Thomas for Ryder Cup!
It's all kicking off on social media...
https://t.co/FmjWRWX2EL
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) August 29, 2023

In his news conference, Johnson said he did not call the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed who left the PGA Tour in 2022 in favour of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

He insisted his calls only were to those that were in contention in the rankings.

Joining Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Max Homa are:

Koepka led the 87th Masters after 54 holes but lost to Jon Rahm.

Despite that disappointment, the LIV Golf pro claimed his fifth major at the 2023 US PGA Championship.

The fact he joined the rival league was thought to hinder Koepka's chances for this side.

But Johnson stated Koepka is 'very personable'. "Guys want to play with him," he said. "In my mind he's built for the biggest stages."

Johnson dodged a question on whether Koepka's LIV involvement had factored into his decision.

"He and I have been communicating a lot, we've had great discussions, very candid discussions [and] he basically earned his way onto the team if you want to get down to the pennies and dollars of it," he said.