CROMWELL, Conn. — Jordan Spieth altered his schedule with one eye toward his return to Royal Birkdale and another on his standing in the FedExCup.
For only the second time in the 11 years since he last won the John Deere Classic, Spieth is returning to the Deere and will skip the Scottish Open the following week.
“I wanted to add an event,” Spieth said Sunday after the Travelers Championship. “I thought unless I went to Birkdale before the Scottish, I’m not going to get in until Sunday night. The majors this year, I’ve liked the ones I’ve been to early and played prior to the week, just because the practice rounds are brutal. So the plan was to do that early.”
Instead of the Scottish Open — he has missed the cut his past two times — he plans to arrive at Royal Birkdale on the weekend. The Lancashire links where he delivered a dynamic finish to win in 2017 is slightly different. The fifth hole has been reshaped. Plus, the par-5 15th is now the 14th hole, and a new par-3 15th hole follows.
But there’s more, of course.
“I’m around 50th in the FedExCup, and that’s a big deal,” Spieth said. “Now I’ll do the Deere, potentially Minnesota (the week after The Open) and potentially Greensboro (the final regular-season event).
He tied for 66th in the 72-man field at the Travelers, one week after he tied for 56th in the U.S. Open. That dropped him out of the top 50 to No. 52. And it’s a big deal. The top 50 are in all the signature events for 2027, and last year Spieth finished 54th.
