Jordan Spieth falls apart at Wyndham Championship, misses 54-hole cut before playoffs
It was a rough afternoon for Jordan Spieth on Saturday.
In fact, it was so bad that it ended his PGA Tour season a day early.
Spieth fired a 7-over 77 on Saturday in the third round of the Wyndham Championship and fell victim to the Tour’s secondary cut, sending him home from Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, before the final round. His 77 was the highest score made by any player through the first three rounds of the tournament, too.
“Yeah, it was just a bad day,” Spieth said after his round, via the PGA Tour. “Overall, just didn’t play well.
The secondary cut on the PGA Tour, implemented in 2008, is used only if more than 78 players make it through the first cut. The field is then cut down to the top 70 players and ties after the third round of the tournament. The 54-hole cut isn’t used very often, however, and was actually eliminated for next season — making Spieth one of the final players to fall victim to the rule.
Spieth was off to a solid start in the final regular season event of the year, too. He fired a 6-under 64 on Thursday and backed it up with a 67 on Friday to sit just four strokes behind the leader heading into the weekend.
Yet a double bogey on the first hole, and then two more on the back nine, doomed the 26-year-old. He hit just 4-of-14 fairways on Saturday, too, and made 32 putts.
“On the front nine I actually had decent looks at birdie on a lot of holes,” Spieth said, via the PGA Tour. “And then No. 10, when I hit that one out of bounds, it was like, ‘Man, I don't know what's going on.’
“Yeah, I mean, I putted my ass off for two days to be able to be where I was at. And you can't exactly fix your ball-striking in a day from being a negative three or something Strokes Gained to trying to gain positive. It's just too much to try and force it.”
Spieth still in good position for the FedExCup Playoffs
While his regular season is over, Spieth has still more than qualified for the start of the FedExCup Playoffs next week.
He entered the Wyndham Championship at No. 67 in the FedExCup standings, though is projected to drop to No. 70 after Saturday — which puts him right on the line to qualify for the BMW Championship, the Tour’s second playoff stop. A strong outing at The Northern Trust next week in New Jersey would help solidify his place at the BMW Championship, and could help ensure he reaches the Tour Championship in three weeks — an event he missed last season for the first time in his professional career.
Though Saturday’s performance was rough, Spieth is still looking at it as a positive heading into the postseason.
“This extra day could serve me really well through the playoffs,” Spieth said, via the PGA Tour.
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