After a complicated path of injury, recovery, and near misses, Jordan Spieth has finally drawn the curtain on his 2025 season. Coming really close to making the cut, Spieth was shoved to 54th position in the FedExCup points, and will have to sit for the last two playoff events – The BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship. His Ryder Cup ambitions have also almost drowned.
There are various reasons for the three-time major champion’s underwhelming performance this year, but they all have the same root. It all goes back to a wrist injury that Spieth had in 2023 while playing with his son Sammy. It kept nagging him for the next year or so—which affected his grip— till he finally underwent a surgery in August of last year. The recovery period demanded that he not pick up a club for three months at least, another reason for his poor form.
Discussing Spieth’s season on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman and Charlie Hulme advised the American to not ‘tweak’ his game much. “He’ll still need to show up next year with the confidence that ‘this is my DNA’, ‘and this is what I am going to do’, and not tweak too much. Just play creative golf and trust that his stuff is good enough.”
After his ‘reset’ period, Jordan Spieth made significant changes to his swing. He changed his swing mechanics by altering his hand path in the backswing to correct a steeper, deeper motion, hurting his wedge and finesse shots. Moreover, he shifted from an open-faced to a slightly bowed clubface to improve his control and speed, to regain stability in his grip.
Jordan Spieth finishes *just* outside the FedExCup top 50 and won’t advance to @BMWChamps. pic.twitter.com/6jhfAqWEC7
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 10, 2025
“I’m not calling these swing changes. These are just a reset into some of the stuff I did that was my DNA, that was super advantageous that I had gotten away from for one reason or another,” Spieth told AP earlier this year.
These ‘tweaks’ were not meant to completely change his gameplay but rather a return to his natural ‘DNA’ swing, which was more about prioritizing a bowed left wrist and a powerful body rotation. However, these adjustments, combined with the injury’s impact, disrupted the precision needed in his iron play and approach shots — key areas to score on challenging courses. Additionally, his putting also suffered noticeable changes.
He continued missing putts at all distances, which caused inconsistent performance throughout. It was evident at the 2025 PGA Championship (he shot rounds of 76 and 68 for a total of 144, falling one stroke short of advancing to the weekend rounds) and more recently at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he ended up nearly missing the cut. It is quite unfortunate, as the American was once a consistent top-10 putter on the PGA Tour between 2015 and 2017.
“It’s a bummer he missed out narrowly, but he’s gotten healthy over the year and started playing some good golf in multiple stretches. I don’t have a problem with it, but multiple people inevitably will,” said Hulme about the changes in his gameplay.
As the 32-year-old heads towards next season, the hope is that his hard work on recovery and swing mechanism will begin to pay off, giving him more confidence.
Jordan Spieth’s road ahead
Jordan Spieth’s finish inside the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings means he will keep his PGA Tour card for the 2026 season. He has secured full playing privileges in regular full-field events. However, finishing 54th this year falls short of the top 50 cutoff needed for automatic entry into all Signature Events – the limited-field, high-profile tournaments that carry extra prestige and points.
This means Spieth won’t have guaranteed access to these events next season, unless he earns spots through other avenues like tournament wins, world ranking exemptions, or sponsors.
“Next year’s going to be a really good year for me, I can feel it. It’s all coming along. I’ll be healthy, and just structurally putting, the mechanics are all getting really, really close,” Spieth said as reported by the PGA Tour.
For the time being, the wrist injury doesn’t seem to cause him much trouble, as he has stated he feels “no pain”, but during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he did experience some discomfort after hitting a bunker shot. All in all, the prescribed therapy seems to provide him with the much-needed relief. Unfortunately, he suffered another injury in his neck/upper back, which forced him to withdraw from the Travelers Championship in June. Spieth did clear it later that it wasn’t due to his wrist, and he has recovered since.
Looking ahead, Spieth’s focus will likely be on climbing back into the top 50 range or capturing a win without depending on exemptions. Strengthening his consistency, refining his game, and staying true to his gameplay will be key.
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