Justin Thomas will shepherd rookie Jackson Koivun in Koivun’s first professional team match Thursday at the Presidents Cup.
It’s been nine years since Thomas was in Koivun’s shoes.
Thomas made his Presidents Cup debut at Liberty National in 2017, and he went 3-1-1, winning each of the first two sessions alongside veteran Rickie Fowler. The next year, Thomas was debuting in the Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris.
“It was very nerve-racking,” Thomas said of that week in France. “It was night and day different [than the year prior], in my opinion.”
Thomas then shared a story he’s already told to Koivun. He and Jordan Spieth were set to play the opening fourball session together, and in the leadup, Spieth said to Thomas, “You just let me know come Friday what you want to do.”
Thomas didn’t decide until minutes before their tee time.
“We were walking to the tee,” Thomas said, “and I’ll never forget walking over that bridge and seeing that horseshoe and the vibration … and I’m just like, ‘I’ll go. I’m going to go.’ He’s like, ‘You got it, you’re good.’ He knew exactly what I was feeling and what I was going through, and that’s why he was a great partner. It’s a bizarre feeling that’s hard to explain, but it’s pretty sweet.”
Thomas and Spieth won that match, 1 up, against Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton. Thomas went on to lead the U.S. with a 4-1 record.
Entering Thursday, Thomas boasts a 19-9-4 record between the two Cups. He’s arguably been the linchpin for recent U.S. teams.
These weeks have been equally beneficial to Thomas.
“I really enjoy the golf side of it with the guys,” Thomas said. “The amount of sharing and talking through stuff on weeks like this, to me, I really, really enjoy. I don’t know how other guys are, but I pick the brains of my teammates and my captains a lot. I remember I would literally wait until team events to ask Phil questions because I knew that he wouldn’t tell me in a regular tournament, but when we got to a team event, I knew he would because we were teammates and he wanted to help me out. I would literally wait and follow him around asking questions.
“I just think it’s really cool because we have the 12 best players in the U.S., and we all go about it differently, but kind of somewhat similarly in the end result, end game. But just how we all do that and get to that is just fascinating to me, and I just love hearing it because I think there’s a lot of things that we all learn from each other and push each other in.”
Thomas shares an agent with Koivun (Excel’s Lance Young), so he’s already served as a mentor of sorts in the past year or so for Koivun – as much as an Alabama guy can for an Auburn Tiger.
“I told Justin, once I get my first tee shot out of the way, I’m going to be good. Just kind of balancing adrenaline, nerves, everything like that to the best of my ability because I’ve put myself in situations like that. I don’t really know if anything is going to recreate what I’m going to feel on the first tee tomorrow.”
Added Thomas: “I told him that today, you’re going to feel some things you’ve never felt before. … Everybody out here this week is going to have a lot of shots and a couple in particular that it’s like a borderline out-of-body experience. I know a lot of other 21-year-olds would kill for that feeling. It’s going to be great.
“I’m excited to watch him in the arena.”
