Spieth in danger of missing BMW Playoffs for the first time
For the first time in his career, former world No.1 Jordan Spieth could miss out on qualifying for the BMW Championship and will most likely miss out on the Tour Championship for the second year in a row.
There’s also a good chance that he won’t make the U.S. President’s Cup team for the first time in his career. Since Spieth joined the PGA Tour in 2013 he’s played on either the U.S. Ryder Cup or President’s Cup team every season.
At this point, he can only hope for a captain’s pick for the team but given how he’s played lately as well as the abundance of young and up coming talent in the mix for the Americans even that seems unlikely.
Spieth is currently ranked No. 67 in the FedEx Cup standings and the 26-year-old is having his worst season to date.
Only the top 70 players after The Northern Trust will be invited to the BMW Championship which is the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Just four years ago in 2015, Spieth finished No. 1 in the FedEx Cup, No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings and had five first-place finishes through 25 events during the PGA Tour season.
During that season, he won both the Masters Tournament and the U.S. Open, he finished tied for fourth at The Open Championship and finished second at the PGA Championship.
By the time he had turned 24, Spieth had already won three major championships. In comparison, Tiger Woods had only won two majors at the same age.
But by the time Woods turned 26, he had won six majors.
In late July, Spieth turned 26 and he’s still stuck on those three major wins.
What’s changed between 2015 Spieth and current-day Spieth? His statistics through the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last weekend would suggest his driver is struggling.
A roller-coaster finish for Jordan Spieth.
The bad news? He went out of bounds.
The good news? Saved bogey for his lowest round of the season. pic.twitter.com/CPUbs9AbDE
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 1, 2019
His driving accuracy average alone has dropped over 10 percent between 2015 from 62.91 percent to 52.89.
In 2015, on average he was gaining nearly half a stroke with his tee shot. This season, he’s been losing nearly half a stroke.
In Spieth’s case, it’s a costly difference and with only a handful of events left this season it’s been more than a $10 million difference.
Remarkably, his putting this season has actually been better than it was in 2015. Four years ago, his strokes gained from putting was an average of .571 but his season it’s .738.
Even with his clutch putting, Spieth has struggled to finish below par this year with a scoring average of 70.424.
With the regular season wrapping up this weekend at the Wyndham Championship, Spieth has two chances to keep himself within the top 70. After that, the top 125 on the PGA Tour will battle it out at The Northern Trust next weekend.
On Thursday, in round one of the Wyndham Championship, Spieth shot a six-under 64. In round two, he shot a three-under 67 and going into Saturday he sits at nine-under par and is four strokes behind the leader, Byeong Hun An, who’s at 13-under par going into Saturday’s round.
If he can build off of the momentum and stay in contention this weekend and continue it through to next weekend, the BMW Championship may still be in sight for the former world No.1 Spieth.
