Jordan Spieth has a battle on his hands to keep his PGA Tour season alive for another week as the FedEx Cup Playoffs begin with the St. Jude Championship in Memphis on Thursday.
Spieth, a three-time major champion and the winner of the 2015 FedEx Cup, has endured another challenging season as his slide continues. The former world No. 1 has slumped to 43 in the Official World Golf Ranking, with the last of his 13 PGA Tour wins coming more than two years ago.
Spieth has missed seven cuts this season and has just two top-10 finishes to his name as the distance grows between the 31-year-old and the game's elite players. The Texan narrowly qualified for the 70-man field for the FedEx Cup Playoffs, finishing the regular season in 63rd place.
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And he has a big challenge at TPC Southwind to extend his season beyond this week. Spieth will need to finish in a minimum of 17th place in Tennessee to punch his ticket for next week's BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Colorado.
But it is likely he will need to do better than that to ensure himself a place in the 50-man field in Denver, with players fighting hard to make it all the way to the 30-man Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta in two weeks.
Spieth's form has not been aided by a lingering wrist injury and he has admitted he will likely have surgery once his season ends in hope of returning to the heights he reached earlier in his career.
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"It's been a frustrating year because it's been maybe my best driving year ever, and then the clubs that I make the most impact into the ground with, which normally are my bread and butter, have been pretty off," Spieth said before last week's Wyndham Championship. "It's not hurting, but subconsciously it's hard not to look at the numbers and think this isn't a coincidence.
"I've been taking trips out as well as being in contact with a lot of doctors, getting it scanned again and trying to figure out what the next move is. Probably going to have to do something about it this offseason.
"I'm going to pretend nothing's happening, fully trust it given that I'll be able to get it fixed, and I know there's a lot of golfers that have had similar situations and come back better than ever. I like to think hopefully I have 10 to 15 years of prime and some of my best golf left, so I'll be optimistic about the process.
"But I'm not quite sure exactly what I'll do and where I'll do it, but unfortunately something kind of has to get done. And I've never experienced anything like this before. Just trying to take my time making sure things are done right at the right time."
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