[PHOTO: Mike Mulholland]
After news broke that both Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler were informed they would not be receiving sponsor exemptions into the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week at Bay Hill, they both put themselves in position to earn spots on merit at the Cognizant Classic. Fowler entered the final round at PGA National in the top six, while Spieth began the day just outside the top 10.
It was Spieth who made a legitimate push, while Fowler faded into a tie for 18th with a closing 72. Spieth shot a three-under 68 to tie for ninth, but that did not earn him enough FedEx Cup points to jump into the Aon Swing 5, which would have given him a spot at Bay Hill. Instead, he’ll be watching from the couch and resting up for the Players Championship, which begins a week from Thursday.
“If you had told me 14-under at the beginning of the week, I would have shook your hand and gone home,” Spieth said afterwards. “I feel like I’m trending in the right direction. I feel like I played better than I did in Phoenix. Phoenix is a better fit for me, I think, maybe. I just throw out Torrey Pines because I did what I always do there. It’s really not a great judge on where I’m at.
“I really do feel like I’m playing good golf at about 60 percent of the control tee to green that I’m capable of doing and still able to come to a very challenging golf course and hit nice shots and shoot under-par rounds.”
It sounds like the right mindset for Bay Hill, which always presents a unique challenge for the world’s best. The three-time major winner has tied for fourth at Arnie’s place twice since 2020. He will not get to build upon that this week, a product of his poor season last year, mainly due to a wrist injury he elected to have surgery on in the offseason.
As Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson and member of the the API’s sponsor exemption committee, put it, the invitations were given to the players who are “getting the ball in the hole the fastest”. Saunders also added that Rafael Campos, who won last year’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship and was given one of the four invites to Bay Hill, helped his case by writing a thoughtful letter.
“There are different levels of effort from each player,” Saunders told Golfweek‘s Adam Schupak. “And I will tell you from what I’ve seen, I don’t know that anybody’s written a more thoughtful letter and put more effort into requesting an exemption than Rafa Campos did. He’s genuine, he’s kind. He’s a steward of the game and that’s something that mattered a lot to my grandfather.”
After his round on Sunday, Spieth appeared to take a veiled shot at the selection process that has left him out of the PGA Tour’s latest signature event.Â
“I feel really good. The Players, I’ve got to be more patient than I have in other years, and then Tampa will be good. I’m bummed not to be [at Bay Hill] next week,” Spieth said. “It’s been a great, great place for me, and I really wish I was getting that start, but I needed to play better injured golf last year, I guess.”
