Tenth on the official world golf rankings, Justin Thomas will not be among the stars playing this week at Austin Country Club where the 2023 WGC-Match Play will be held. Thomas has a pretty straightforward reason why he chose to skip the event after playing last week at the 2023 Valspar Championship, which took place at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.

“[Innisbrook] is a place I love. I really, really love the golf course. 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,” Justin Thomas said, per Joel Beall of Golf Digest. “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.

According to Justin Thomas' profile over on PGA Tour's website, he is 6-for-6 at Austin Country Club but has cracked the top 10 just once and the top 25 only twice. Last year, he placed 35th there during the 2022 WGC-Match Play. The best he's had so far at Austin Country Club was fourth back in the 2018 edition of WGC-Match Play.

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As for his overall form so far in the 2022-23 PGA Tour season, Justin Thomas is a perfect 8-for-8, though, he is still chasing his first win of the campaign. He's come close to nailing a victory this season at least twice, as he had a pair of top-10 finishes to date, including his T-10 at the Valspar Championship.

With Justin Thomas opting to sit out the 2023 WGC-Match Play, he'd miss a shot at winning the $3.6 million prize for the last man standing at Austin Country Club.

Some of the top contenders on the WGC-Match Play this year are Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Max Homa, and Rory McIlroy. Scheffler is going to generate plenty of interest since he is the defending champ in this event plus he's been hot this season. In his last start, he took home the crown at THE PLAYERS Championship — his second win of the season. Rahm, meanwhile, already has three wins this season and is looking for a huge rebound after withdrawing from THE PLAYER Championship.