Fifty players are moving on but for 20 golfers in the FedEx St. Jude Championship field the playoffs are over. Jordan Spieth and Keith Mitchell made earlier exits than they hoped. Mitchell started the week at No. 49 and still was projected on the right side of the cutline entering the final round, but the birdies dried up and he was shut out on the back nine. Spieth was looking good after a bogey-free front-nine 2-under 33. He had climbed to No. 45 until he bogeyed Nos. 11 and 12 and dropped to No. 52. He birdied 13 but he drove it into a water hazard at No. 15 for a costly bogey. Spieth signed for 70 and finished 52nd. "You always want to kind of think — push it to maybe a lower number than what's expected, but it didn't like affect the way I played any holes or anything," he said. "So yeah, it was a tall task coming in. I was going to need to finish essentially in the top 10 this week and fell just shy of it."
Mitchell found the water, too, at 18. He was fortunate his tee shot stayed dry, inside the hazard but on the bank of the lake. Mitchell rolled up his pant legs above the knees and stood in the water to play his second shot from the bank. He made a good strike of the ball but the hook spin got him, and it rolled in the water fronting the green and sealing his fate. He shot 72 and finished T-34, missing by less than 8 points.
Keith Mitchell ALMOST pulled off this hero shot from the water. 😅 pic.twitter.com/QmfKwz0rAz — Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) August 16, 2026 Brian Harman was projected inside the top 50 heading into Sunday but got off to a sluggish start and shot 75 and finished 65th. "That signature series, it's where you want to be," Harman said on Saturday. "It's where the best golf's played. I'd love to have a chance." 51. Keith Mitchell Someone was going to be the odd man out and it turned out to be Mitchell. He started the week at No. 49 but shot 2-over 72 on Sunday and got bumped out by 7.819 points. Mitchell made 19 cuts in 22 starts but just three top 10s, the best of which was a T-4 at the U.S. Open. Mitchell failed to make a birdie on the back nine in Memphis on Sunday. "I didn't look at the leaderboard all day. I had really no idea where I stood until walking off 17 green; 18 tee shot is tough. You've got to decide if you're, if I'm way in, I can just lay up out to the right and make 5 and be good, but I knew I was one back," he said. "We thought it was helping a little bit off the tee, so I absolutely strike my 3-wood. I thought it was perfect when I hit it. Caught a little bit of a gust, and it came up that short. The second shot was obviously interesting, and I just didn't play it far enough right and ended up making 5." 52. Jordan Spieth Back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12 were costly for Spieth, who was No. 45 beforehand. He was the only player to make it to Memphis without a top-10 finish this season. "You always want to kind of think, push it to maybe a lower number than what's expected, but it didn't like affect the way I played any holes or anything," he said. "So yeah, it was a tall task coming in. I was going to need to finish essentially in the top 10 this week and fell just shy of it. It's funny, 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. In some ways I feel like I'm leaving some out there, and in some ways it's a good thing because like I mentioned after the first round, this will be the last time I finish like this for a while. I'm very, very confident in what's coming. I just ran out of steam and maybe made a couple bad decisions over about a six-week stretch on what I was working on, and I just didn't quite have enough time to make up for it."
53. Max Homa The 35-year-old fan favorite made it back to the playoffs after a dip in performance. He finished second at the John Deere Classic and T-9 at the Masters but remains winless since 2023. He will be in the conversation for sponsor exemptions next season for the signature events if he needs them. 54. Harris English English recorded nine top 25s but only one top 10. He struggled down the stretch with missed cuts in three of his final four starts in the regular season and only a T-71 to show for his payday. 55. Pierceson Coody The former Texas star enjoyed a stellar West Coast Swing. But his season stalled out – no top 10s since Phoenix and finished with two missed cuts and a WD before a T-24 in Memphis. The 26-year-old, who played this season out of the Korn Ferry Tour graduate category, showed what he’s capable of doing. 56. Harry Hall The Englishman had a Jekyll and Hyde season, making 12 cuts but missing 10. He made the most of the weekends he made with 4 top 10s and 6 top 25s. But after making it all the way to East Lake last season, this was a lackluster year. 57. Sam Stevens He finished T-7 at the U.S. Open and made 18 of 24 cuts during the regular season but only three top 10s. He’s still seeking his first Tour title. 58. Sudarshan Yellamaraju The Canadian had a solid rookie year playing out of the Korn Ferry Tour category. He notched seven top-25s, including a T-5 at the Players Championship. He played his way into the next four signature events, and made it into the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. If you bet him to be low Canadian in the FedEx Cup standings, you're cashing a pretty good ticket. 59. Corey Conners The Canadian’s season was a mixed bag with 18 made cuts in 20 starts but just one top-10 finish, a T-7 at the Travelers Championship. 60. Daniel Berger DB Straight Vibin didn’t tee it up in Memphis, a place where he’s won twice, which says it all about state of his health. Hopefully, Berger can return in the fall and chase getting back into the winner’s circle for the first since the 2021 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. 61. Michael Kim The highlight, of course, was shooting 59 at the 3M Open. He finished T-2 at the Valero Texas Open, his best finish of the season. 62. Shane Lowry The 39-year-old Irishman did his damage early at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (T-8) and Cognizant Classic (T-2) but after squandering the title at the latter with some late water balls, he was a non-factor. Next year will be a Ryder Cup year and perhaps that will get the juices flowing again. 63. Nick Taylor The Canadian probably has mixed feelings about his season. He made the cut in 20 of 22 starts this season, which is strong, but only one top 10 to show for it, and snapped a string of three straight seasons with a victory. 64. Patrick Rodgers The former Stanford Cardinal great had a great year going up until the PGA Championship but it’s been a struggle since: three missed cuts and a WD and no finish better than T-47. 65. Brian Harman Only one top-10 finish this season, a T-3 at the 3M Open. Harman will be in all the majors next season as the 2023 Open champion but he had a legit chance to make the top 50 and advance to the BMW Championship but struggled in the final round in Memphis. "It's been a tough year. Hasn't been awesome. It's just been kind of one thing or the other," he said.
66. Jordan Smith Solid rookie season for the Englishman. He made 15 cuts during the regular season and eight top 25s. But only one top-10 finish: a third at the Valspar Championship. 67. Jackson Koivun After an electric college season capped off by a team title for Auburn, he turned pro in June and proceeded to win the 3M Open in just his third start and make the playoffs in only five starts. But needed a big week in Memphis to move on and didn’t have his A game. Making it to the BMW might have been valuable for the his U.S. Presidents Cup candidacy? Did he do enough to earn a pick? 68. Aldrich Potgieter The reigning Tour Rookie of the Year had a pedestrian sophomore year. Not a slump but the Tour's leader in driving distance made just nine cuts in 20 starts, and ended the season with five MC's in his last six starts. 69. Ricky Castillo The Florida Gator made 17 of 18 cuts and won the Puerto Rico for his first Tour title. He had only one other top-10 finish but both of them were in March. 70. Matti Schmid The German made it to Memphis for the second straight year but still hasn’t advanced to the BMW. He earned more than half of his FedEx Cup points for his T-4 finish at the PGA Championship in May. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jordan Spieth, Keith Mitchell among the 20 exiting FedEx Playoffs before BMW