Jordan Spieths late meltdown cost him guaranteed chance at $20 million events in 2027
MEMPHIS, Tenn.— Jordan Spieth set a target of 67 for the final round of the FedEx St.
Jude Championship, certain that would be enough for him to crack the top 50 in the FedEx Cup and advance to next week.Turns out he would have only needed a 69, and even that was out of his reach.Spieth and Keith Mitchell, who was up to his knees in water on the 18th trying to salvage his postseason, narrowly missed out on advancing in the PGA Tour postseason Sunday, losing a chance to be guaranteed to play in all the $20 million signature events in 2027.One birdie over his last three holes would have done it for Spieth.
Mitchell would have needed to shave two shots from his score.He made bogey from the water on the 18th.“I just feel like I’m kind of getting back to playing really good golf, like it’s close to kicking off, and I’m not going to play a tournament for a long time,” Spieth said after closing with three straight pars for an even-par 70.Spieth came into the first playoff event at No.
54 and was projected to need something around the top 15 — depending on others around him — to make it to the BMW Championship for the first time since 2023.He made it through the worrisome stretch of holes — Nos.11 through 14 at the TPC Southwind — with a pair of bogeys and a 30-foot birdie putt.“If you can get through there unscathed, you know you’re looking at some opportunities on the other side,” Spieth said.But he tugged his tee shot on the 15th far enough to the left that it found the water, leading to bogey.
His chip from behind the green on the par-5 16th was too strong and rolled off the green, and he missed a 15-foot birdie putt.He missed a birdie from about that distance on the 17th.Needing a birdie on the 18th, he went from a patch of dirt right of the fairway just over the green, still a putter in hand from 35 feet.
He started walking before the long birdie putt finished short of the cup, giving him a par.“I just didn’t execute enough shots and...