Jordan Spieth has insisted that he feels extremely close to playing incredibly well despite looking set to miss out on making it to the BMW Championship.
Spieth was one of the players who had all eyes on him heading into Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The three-time major champion was one of the names fighting to break into the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Of course, that would have booked his ticket to the second playoff event. But more importantly, it would have ensured that Spieth was in all of the signature events next season.
Jordan Spieth assesses the state of his game after the FedEx St. Jude Championship
As the final round approaches its conclusion, Jordan Spieth looks set to end the week in 52nd in the standings. That will create some uncertainty over his schedule in 2026.
Spieth falling short is hardly surprising. Quite remarkably, the Texan was the only player in the field at TPC Southwind without a single top 10 on the PGA Tour this season.
Nevertheless, speaking after his final round, Spieth suggested that he is incredibly optimistic about the direction his game is trending in.
“I figured two [under par] was plenty fine today and one probably wasn’t. One might end up being. If I shot three-under, seven-under was going to be plenty fine. If I settled one short, I’d be sweating it, I thought,” he said.
“You always want to kind of think push it to maybe a lower number than what’s expected, but it didn’t affect the way I played any holes or anything.
“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.”
What cost Jordan Spieth this week at TPC Southwind
Spieth gave himself a golden opportunity to extend his season with a brilliant opening round this week.
However, he failed to build on that 65. And the damage was largely done on Saturday, with Spieth posting a round of 72 to move back down the leaderboard.
Spieth suggested that his mental game cost him during the third round.
“Yesterday I let myself down with emotions, but today I was all right,” he said.
“I had a goal to be three-under at 18 fairway and the rest will take care of itself. I was well on my way. I just didn’t execute enough shots, a couple bounces could have gone one way or the other. I needed to be almost flawless today. When the wind was blowing, it’s a hard golf course.
“Yesterday really set me back. Felt like I stayed pretty calm, got off to the start I wanted. Then around that 11, 12, 13, 14 stretch, if you can get through there unscathed, you know you’re looking at some opportunities on the other holes. I did pretty well around those holes this week, but today kind of caught a couple that could have gone one way or the other and ended up mis-executing the shots just barely and didn’t get away with it.”
The good news for Spieth is that finishing outside the top 50 is unlikely to dent his chances of being a stalwart in the signature events in 2027.
The 33-year-old finished 54th in the FedEx Cup 12 months ago, but ended up being a regular fixture in this year’s signature events.
In what looks set to be the final year of sponsor invites, it seems likely that Spieth will be the first name on the list if he is not already in the field.