Jordan Spieth under fire for decision expected to cause fresh problems for PGA Tour

Despite finishing the previous season 80th in the FedEx Cup standings, Spieth managed to secure a spot in several signature events in 2025.

Still, he did not take full advantage of those appearances and will once again need to rely on sponsor invites next season.

The twist is that Spieth is still likely to feature in both opening signature events of 2026, even though he did not play any tournaments during the Fall Series. Rex Hoggard pointed out on the Golf Channel Podcast that his situation could become a headache for the PGA Tour.

“I was talking with one tour player about this and they pointed out really, really quickly that Jordan Spieth’s main sponsor is AT&T, so he’s getting into Pebble Beach – and I agree with that. And it doesn’t seem likely at all that he’s not getting into Genesis as Tiger Woods is the host there. He clearly has a good relationship. He’s going to get in there as well,” he began by saying.

“I agree with both of those things. I just think it’s an incredibly poor look for Jordan Spieth. And the part that I wrestle with a little bit is the conversation he had with our very own Damon Hack last week, where he was working on things, he was trying to get healthy, he was trying to be around his family. A lot of things going on off the golf course, which is more than fair. These guys play all year long, they play a really gruelling schedule, it’s only going to become more gruelling next year. You deserve the time off. But it is tough when you’re in that category and you didn’t play once in the fall.

“You didn’t even give it one shot. You didn’t go to Mexico of all places; Cabo is pretty nice this time of year from what I hear. You didn’t go to Napa, really nice. I just don’t understand why he made the choice of not even playing if all he needed to do was make one cut and he would have finished in that category and he wouldn’t even be in this conversation.

“I am tired of talking about it. You’re tired of talking about the idea of sponsor exemptions and why these exemptions into these big events, the signature events, always seem to go to the four or five or six different players. No one wants to hear it anymore. But it’s going to become an issue next year when there’s going to be a guy that’s watching that field and knows that Jordan Spieth got in because he’s on a sponsor exemption, and he could’ve made the least amount of effort and not taken that spot.”

Jordan Spieth says it was not easy accepting so many sponsor invites last season

Spieth, despite his struggles, remains one of the PGA Tour’s top draws, and few players move the needle with fans the way he does. Having him in the big events is good for business. But his handling of this situation has drawn some criticism.

If the 32-year-old was genuinely concerned about missing out on those signature events, a single appearance in the fall would have helped his case and avoided much of this debate.

Interestingly, before the Wyndham Championship earlier this year, Spieth spoke about how uncomfortable he felt relying on exemptions to play his way into major tournaments.

“I didn’t like asking for exemptions this year at all. I was fortunate to receive a lot of them, but you just never know.

“When you miss out on elevated events, the way it’s structured, they’ve got the best players in the world at all of them, and you don’t want to miss any of them,” he said.

Spieth could have eased some pressure on himself by playing even once or twice late in the season. A strong finish might have secured his place in the Aon Next 10 and quieted many of these complaints.

But that did not happen, so now he will need to deal with whatever backlash comes next. And it is likely that discussions about how sponsor exemptions are handed out will only get louder because of it.