Just weeks after a disappointing Ryder Cup finish, Justin Thomas is taking a well-earned break, and he’s spending it right where he feels at home — back in Alabama, watching football.

After all, it’s been just a few weeks since the Ryder Cup wrapped up at Bethpage Black, and the sting is still fresh. Team USA lost to Europe in a 15-13 nail-biter, a match that saw the Europeans dominate fiercely from Day 1. Despite a strong final-day push, scoring 8.5 points in the singles, tying the most points ever, Team USA fell short. And while Justin Thomas wasn’t flawless, he definitely wasn’t the weakest link.

JT posted a decent 2-2-0 record in New York. While it was a mediocre record posted by the 4-time Ryder Cupper, some of his wins at Bethpage added to crucial points that Team USA desperately needed to save face. He lost his first match, partnered first with Bryson DeChambeau against Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton (4&3) in the foursomes, then his four-balls match with Cameron Young against Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry (2 down).

But he did find some rhythm, cruising to a 6&5 win with Young in session 2’s fourballs match over rookies Ludvig Åberg and Rasmus Højgaard, and closing strong with a gritty 1-up singles win over Tommy Fleetwood. So, Thomas did contribute a fair amount of points to his team, which was a contrast to the shocking performance that Scottie Scheffler put up.

But let’s not forget that Justin Thomas comes in with a lot of experience. 2025 marked Thomas’ fourth straight Ryder Cup appearance. Though he wasn’t an automatic qualifier this time, despite a win at the 2025 RBC Heritage and a solid season with eight top-10s, his experience and stellar play earned him a captain’s pick. And the pick was fair enough because Thomas has a 3-0-0 singles record across his Ryder Cup career, and he was even the leading points scorer in his Ryder Cup debut in 2018 at Le Golf National in France (4-1-0).

Now, with the fall season underway, Thomas has opted to take a step back. He did play the first fall event, though, the Procore Championship, as it was part of Team USA’s Ryder Cup prep. But because he is well within the top 50 on the FedEx Cup rankings (finished 7th), Thomas doesn’t need to worry about his 2026 tour status to compete in the fall events. So, his break is well-deserved, and what better way to spend it than following another sport he loves.

Justin Thomas’s love for football

It’s no secret that Justin Thomas is a football guy at heart, and not just the American kind. In fact, golf often takes a backseat when there’s a big game on, as Thomas hilariously admitted after missing Fred Couples’ epic 12-under 60 at the SAS Championship back in 2022, which earned him his 14th career PGA Tour Champions win. Tiger Woods had called JT mid-round to ask, “Are you watching this?” expecting Thomas to be glued to Couples’ near-59 performance.

But JT had other priorities. “Yeah, pretty good game,” he replied, thinking Woods was talking about the Chiefs-Bills NFL game. “No offense to Fred, love him to death, but he was going to win,” Thomas added, saying he had scheduled his entire practice day around the football game.

His love for football also extends across the continent. On the eve of the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open, Jordan Spieth revealed that both he and Thomas had invested in the English football club Leeds United, a move they were apparently nudged into by longtime Tour caddie Billy Foster. “We thought it would be a cool opportunity,” Spieth said at the time, calling it a historic club in a great city with a legendary home venue at Elland Road.

The investment was initially risky at the time because the 49ers Enterprises owned only a 44% stake in Leeds. But JT and Spieth stuck around despite the risk, and their investment ultimately paid off when 49ers Group bought the rest of the stakes, taking full ownership, valuing the club at $ 221 million at the time.

So, whether it’s Alabama on Saturday, the NFL on Sunday, or Leeds United across the continent, Thomas’s football fandom runs deep.