Justin Thomas has played down an injury scare ahead of next week's Ryder Cup as he tries to become the first player to win back-to-back FedEx Cup titles.
Thomas had his right wrist taped as he gave a pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, where he finished second behind Xander Schauffele 12 months ago to seal the overall FedEx Cup title and $10million bonus.
The 25-year-old revealed he suffered the injury during the delayed final round of the BMW Championship on September 10, when a closing 68 left him in a tie for 12th.
"I just kind of tweaked it on the back nine of BMW and it's more precautionary than anything," Thomas said.
"Just a little tightness and it probably looks a little worse than it is. With two big weeks coming up it's more precautionary than anything.
"It came up on my 13th hole on Monday. I've never had it happen, it just kind of popped up. I took last week off, I didn't hit a ball but I chipped and putt a lot so my short game feels pretty good.
"At this time of year it's nice to take time off - you are better off being mentally fresh than you are having my game physically fresh."
Along with Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Rose, Tony Finau and Dustin Johnson, Thomas knows that victory at East Lake would guarantee him the overall FedEx Cup title, regardless of other results.
"I'm excited to have the opportunity to do something that no-one has ever done, which is pretty cool," the 2016 US PGA champion added.
"It's been a really consistent year and I take a lot of pride in that. I've had a lot of top 25s and yeah I would like to have more top 10s and wins, but as a whole I feel like I've gotten better as a player this year.
"I don't have as many wins and I didn't win a major, but I think statistically I've improved in about every category, which is huge. It's a big goal of mine to improve every year so if I can continue in this direction I can do some pretty great things the rest of my career."
