Jordan Spieth reached the PGA Tour postseason for the 14th consecutive year, this time with a most curious achievement. He finished the regular season at No. 54 in the FedEx Cup despite not finishing in the top 10 in any of his 21 tournaments.
How was that possible?
For starters, top 10 really doesn’t have as much relevance since 2008 when the Ryder Cup (thanks to U.S. captain Paul Azinger) went away from awarding points only to top-10 finishes.
Spieth had four finishes in the top 12, including the Masters and two signature events. Those four top 12s — the other was a tie for 11th in the Valspar Championship — accounted for 52% of his FedEx Cup points.
He played in all eight signature events this year, but he received only two exemptions — Bay Hill (tie for 11th worth 125 points) and the Travelers Championship (tie for 66th worth seven points). Take out those two sponsor exemptions and Spieth would have finished at No. 64 and still qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
And now he has to move into the top 50 after the first playoff event to reach the BMW Championship, which would get him into all the signature events next year.
To be sure, signature events are a big advantage to those who play them — 700 points to the winner compared with 500 at a regular tournament, and points are more than doubled through the 28th position. Beau Hossler didn’t play a single signature event (or a major) and finished at No. 72, missing out on the postseason by 31 points.
No one cashed in like Adam Scott. He asked for only one exemption for the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and finished fourth (325 points). That helped get him in Bay Hill (tie for 11th) and he stayed high enough on the list to get into Doral (tie for fourth). Scott wound up playing six signature events and picked up 895 of his 1,218 points in the FedEx Cup.
He starts out the postseason at No. 29, assured of advancing to the BMW Championship, with an eye toward a return to the Tour Championship, which would get him in all the majors next year.
Spieth, meanwhile, hasn’t made it to the Tour Championship since 2023. Odds are he will need his first top 10 of the year to get there.
