The FedExCup (FEC) Fall season is officially over. The last few events saw bubble players scrambling to get in on top of the list. But one name that remained absent is Jordan Spieth. Sitting in 61st place at the FedEx Cup standings, Spieth has lost the chance to qualify for the AON Next 10 by just one spot. Still, he’ll be playing. While that might tune in more fans, the long-term result does not look good, says one analyst.

The AON 10 Next allows the top-60 players of the FEC standings to automatically qualify for the first two Signature Events of the season. That is, they all will tee it up at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. And even though Spieth sits at 61, he will also play in these events, especially at Pebble Beach. Firstly, because of his sponsor’s exemption, and secondly, because he’s the ambassador of AT&T. That’s precisely what will “corrode” the system, according to Brendon Porath.

“Jordan Spieth, who fell firmly…We said, ‘Shouldn’t he play?’ Oh, wait, he doesn’t have to play. He’s an AT&T ambassador. He’s got that sponsor’s exemption just waiting for him,” says Porath sarcastically on his Shotgun Start Podcast. “You know, have one of your most marketable players could be a windfall for your fall events. Like, it just corrodes the entire system in little bitty ways…”

This year, Spieth received 5 sponsors’ exemptions. From those alone, he earned $1.4 M and 254 FEC points. That was enough to propel him safely inside the top 70. But if he hadn’t received those exemptions, he would have certainly finished somewhere in the 100-110 range, and might have even lost his card. This ecosystem of exemptions nullifies what the PGA Tour stands for.

Analysts say that it mirrors exactly what the Tour has been canceling LIV Golf for – access without merit. Firstly, an exemption takes a spot from a qualified player. Like the Zozo Championship, where Gary Woodland and Joel Dahmen got an exemption, but Pierceson Coody did not, despite a similar or better performance. Moreover, you keep getting the points, despite not performing at all.

To put it into context, Spieth’s points on the FEC Fall standings in 928. Max McGreevy, who bumped him out of the place, sits with 927. Do you see the gap? It’s a point’s difference, almost microscopic. If Spieth had made a cut in the fall event, appeared for just one event, he would certainly be sitting in the top 60. Because after all, he is not that bad of a player. But he simply didn’t care.

“Could have gone to Cabo…to the Baycurrent…Black Desert. Could have done any number,” Porath jokes. “Could have gone to Bermuda,” chimes Andy Johnson. “It’s interesting,” replies Porath.

For analysts and viewers, it does sound interesting. But if one asks Jordan Spieth, he might reply to medical reasons as his hiatus. Since last year, he has been suffering from his left wrist. And this year, he there neck spasms as an add-on. Due to cumulative reasons like this, he played his last time at Memphis for the FedExCup St. Jude Championship, and then disappeared from the golf circuit. This decision to be ok with disqualification, knowing you have a safety net, did not sit right with Johnson.

“They just add up over time. Paper cuts well here and there,” he remarks. This pattern is hard to ignore.

But what’s also hard to ignore is Spieth being the only player engulfed in this story. Another player who also received sponsors’ exemptions was not on the sharper end of the sword. Why so?

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Why Rickie Fowler avoided the Spieth-level backlash?

The situation of Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth was pretty much the same this year. Both players benefited enormously from sponsors’ exemptions. Where Fowler received six, Spieth had five. But Fowler performed better than Spieth. He earned 319 FedExCup points from those events and finished 32nd overall on the FedExCup standings, qualifying for the playoffs. Some of his strong performances include a T7 at the Memorial and a T6 at the FedEx St.Jude Championship. Despite this, Fowler did receive some amount of criticism.

On the other hand, Spieth did not leave a chance to stagger. His only standout performance from those exemptions was at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson, where he registered a solo fourth. Other than that, he had mediocre results, like a T69 at the Pebble Beach and a missed cut at the Genesis. He was almost a hundred points short of what Fowler got.

At the same time, Spieth earned an average of 51 points per Sig Event exemption. Now that might sound decent, but it is actually not. Top-50 players typically earn 170-180+ points per event. Compared to that, Spieth’s per-event efficiency was roughly 25-30% of what an elite golfer would deliver. “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,” he said it himself.

In all honesty, Jordan Spieth did not do justice to his exemptions, despite having some supporting voices. And with a potential of getting some more of it in 2026, he might further ruin his case.