Jordan Spieth could lose his PGA Tour card. Where on earth did it all go wrong?

When you think of needle-movers in golf and players you would go out of your way to seek at a tournament, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, and probably Scottie Scheffler would be at the top of your list.

Jordan Spieth wouldn’t be far behind, either. The popular American can be described as such because of his success as a three-time major champion, his unpredictable playing style, and his personality – often manifested with hysterical outbursts, frank conversations with his caddie, and verbal demands shouted at his airborne golf balls.

His chaotic approach on the course was never clearer than when competing at the Valero Texas Open in 2024. After finding himself in the penalty area on the par 18th hole at TPC San Antonio after two shots, he didn’t take a drop and, instead, hit his ball on to the clubhouse roof.

The idea was that because the clubhouse was an immovable obstruction, Spieth could take a favourable drop in an area near a leaderboard. He still went on to make a double bogey.

He was untouchable at one stage, especially in 2015. He convincingly won the Masters that year, then won the US Open at Chambers Bay two months later, after Dustin Johnson inexplicably three-putted the final green to miss out on a playoff.

A Spieth slam was on, and had he not spun his approach to the 18th hole on the Old Course at St Andrews back into the Valley of Sin at the front of the green, a Claret Jug there would’ve set up an unthinkable romp of four majors in the same year at the PGA Championship. Back when the PGA was in August.

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His putting was being compared to Tiger Woods’ peak, where everything he looked at found the bottom of the cup. His immense confidence on the greens was epitomised by his strategy of short putts, whereby he’d look at the hole rather than the ball when putting. Two years later, he won The Open at Royal Birkdale in swashbuckling fashion, facing defeat to Matt Kuchar while in the jaws of victory, but eventually pulling it off on his way to a third major.

But in contrast to when McIlroy used to roll up to the Masters each year, before 2025, and be quizzed on if this was finally the time he would complete his major grand slam, owning the quartet of big trophies in the men’s game, Spieth is largely relieved of the same treatment at the PGA Championship each year, where the same prize is at stake.

This concept is a little embodiment of where we are with Spieth. This daring, charismatic and frankly loopy star is no longer a fixture at the top of leaderboards, and hasn’t been fancied at the top of major betting markets for some time. If you still keep the faith, he is as big as 60/1 to win at Augusta National in April.

He has plummeted to 89th in the world rankings (he was actually as low as 92nd at this time during the 2021 season), which is a poor indictment given he is a PGA Tour player and has been playing in ranked events, when some of his colleagues who moved to LIV Golf haven’t had that same privilege.

He broke back into the top 10 around the time he won the RBC Heritage in 2022, but the Texan’s case shows it can happen to anyone. He has five top-10s in his last 27 majors, and has won only twice since winning The Open 9 years ago. So, why has this happened?

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How can we explain the Jordan Spieth slump?

As we say, it can happen to anyone. Anyone can lose form, but anyone can get injured, too. He has dealt with wrist problems since the end of 2017, when he hurt it during the off-season. This injury has had evident negative repercussions on his swing, and therefore, his form. In December, he declared he hadn’t “swung it well for the better part of 10 years.”

He had surgery before the start of last season, but given the intensity of the PGA Tour schedule, with events coming thick and fast, Spieth seemingly hasn’t been able to return to the swing movement and the feel that made him one of the best players of his generation.

Away from the course, too, Spieth and his wife Annie now have three children. They welcomed their third child in July, 2025. Being absorbed as a father in a five-strong family constitutes a huge change and a different lifestyle compared with the 19-year-old who won the John Deere Classic in 2013, then two majors two years later.

He is also one of many players to serve on the Player Advisory Council (PAC) on the PGA Tour. In 2018, he was named chairman and served as a player director through to 2021. He later replaced Rory McIlroy as a player director in 2023, and served through to this time last year. He has now returned to the PAC.

Serving the PAC and becoming involved in the operational side of the tour doesn’t have a direct correlation to bad form, as McIlroy has shown in recent years. Heck, the World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is in the PAC, but it is worth considering the effect that Spieth’s passion for representing the tour in the boardroom might have had on his form on the course.

No matter what has caused Spieth’s nosedive in the major conversation over what is approaching a decade now, as fans, we have more reason to be concerned for his career than ever.

Remarkably, the 32-year-old only has status on the PGA Tour through the 2026 season. His win exemptions have run dry, and his place in the top 70 of last year’s FedEx Cup standings is propping up his plans this season.

There was one main blot on Spieth’s career, the low point we all remember. When leading the 2016 Masters, he made a quadruple bogey on the par-3 12th hole and surrendered the tournament to Danny Willett.

Not that losing his tour card would erase the memory of hitting two balls into Rae’s Creek, but it would represent a comparable nadir in a career we all so eagerly want to be reignited.

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