The tee times for The Open 2025 are out! And there are some exciting players grouped together. Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele will tee off together. Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa, and Shane Lowry will also be in the same group. Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Rose will feature in Group 44. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and Tommy Fleetwood will tee off at the same time. All these players are part of their respective Featured Groups that will get primary coverage. But there is one golfer who is missing from the list, and that has not pleased the fans a lot.

A tweet from The Open Championship revealed the four featured groups for the first couple of rounds of the tournament. While many of the comments under it had fans expressing their excitement for the major, some weren’t pleased with the choice of players in the groups. A lot of them questioned the inclusion of Morikawa in the mix. The 28-year-old has faced a lot of heat recently after he rushed out of the Bay Hill Club following a disappointing loss in the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational. However, he was not the most talked-about player in the comments. It is Jordan Spieth.

Most of the fans questioned the exclusion of Spieth from the featured group. Especially because he is grouped with two other high-calibre golfers in Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg. They believed he could have replaced anyone from J.J. Spaun, Robert MacIntyre, Morikawa, to even Fleetwood. The 3-time major winner is a beloved figure in the community and is regarded as one of the better players on the course. While he may only be a shadow of his former self from 2017 and before, Spieth still possesses the star power to attract views. That makes him a great candidate to add to any featured group.

Jordan is coming off a huge family moment where the Spieth family just welcomed their third child, Sully, into their home. “We added a new member to the foursome,” he wrote. He shared pictures of the infant a couple of days ago. Spieth had already confirmed that his arrival at Royal Portrush might be delayed as his wife, Annie, was due just a week before The Open 2025. Coming to Northern Ireland, it seems that he won’t have as much of the spotlight on him as some of his peers. Missing out on watching a less stressed and healthier Spieth playing at Royal Portrush will be a big loss for the fans.

Coming back to the tweet from The Open, fans were clearly frustrated to learn that they won’t get to see Jordan Spieth as often as others. Especially when he would still be in a joyous mood and probably perform well in the tournament. Let’s see how they responded.

Netizens demand spotlight on Jordan Spieth

The R&A and broadcasting team’s decision not to have Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland, & Ludvig Aberg as a featured group sounded crazy to many of the fans. As one of them pointed out, “You get bullied into putting DeChambeau in a featured group from kids that have no desire to watch golf after the masters. Should’ve been Spieth/Hovland/Aberg.” LIV Golf loyalist bashed the authorities for limiting the TV time Bryson DeChambeau got during the 2025 Masters. But stealing the spotlight away from Spieth, Hovland, and Aberg is not how they are going to resolve that issue in The Open 2025.

Speaking in general of the mistake they made with the featured groups, someone wrote, “No spieth hovland and ludvig is straight up incompetence wow.” The trio has had ten top-10 finishes and 2 titles between them throughout the season. They are also some of the favorites to win the major. Moreover, Spieth is considered one of the most impactful players in the PGA Tour and was ranked 5th in the PIP program from 2024. So, for him and his group not to have the spotlight seems ridiculous to the community.

Continuing to commend the potential of exciting strokeplay they might display, a comment read, “Two of the brightest young stars in the sport and Jordan Spieth aren’t featured? Great work.” Aberg and Hovland are largely considered the future of professional golf. Spieth’s spectacular record puts him on the list of elites. While grouping them together was a great move by The R&A, the broadcasting team surely messed up by not making them a Featured Group.

Another fan wrote, “Spieth/Ludvig/Hovland group gets served on a silver platter for us…. Only for it not to be featured. What a kick to the nuts. So happy we get to watch Bob Mac. Disgusting.” The fan continued to complain about why the group of three amazing golfers is not getting more attention. They also threw shade on Robert MacIntyre, making the list of featured group instead of Spieth, Aberg, and Hovland.

Lastly, one of the comments showed support only for Jordan Spieth, as they were shocked to learn about his absence from the featured groups list. They wrote, “How is Spieth not featured???,” surprised by his exclusion. Interestingly, the 31-year-old was in the featured of the first two rounds of all the other majors this season. So this is quite a big change by The R&A.