In the last two seasons, Jordan Spieth has found himself in a pitiful zone, relying on sponsor exemptions to secure a place in the Signature Events. While his play might make him a “no-brainer” for tournament directors, Spieth has made it clear that he no longer wants to rely on these favors, and a recent sighting underscores this commitment.

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine shared on X that on a rainy day at Riviera, Jordan Spieth was the only golfer on the range all day. The golfer is preparing for the 2026 Genesis Invitational which is all set to start this week from Thursday. The decision to be out there in rain makes sense, especially after the kind of last couple of seasons Spieth has had.

Spieth’s 2024 season was hampered by a chronic wrist injury, and he struggled to an 80th-place finish in the FedEx Cup points standings. The 2025 season saw a slight improvement as he finished 61st after the conclusion of the FedEx Cup Fall.

He was invited to play at the Genesis Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial, the Truist Championship, and Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge via sponsor exemption back in 2025. A move that garnered a lot of backlash, as these exemptions meant some other golfer had to give up their spot.

In 2026, he started the year as an ambassador for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And most recently secured a confirmed exemption for the Arnold Palmer Invitational (API) at Bay Hill. Regarding this cycle, Spieth has been blunt about his desire to break free.

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“I’ve been off for so long. Hit the ground running, probably play a lot on the West Coast. I want to work my way into events. I don’t want to use exemptions. I don’t want to ever have to use that again. It’s s**ked the last couple of years.”

Spieth’s current struggle is juxtaposed against his older version only. Before the wrist injury began in late 2017, Spieth achieved three legs of the career Grand Slam before his 24th birthday, winning the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, followed by The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 2017. He once held the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for 26 weeks. But since defeating Patrick Cantlay at the 2022 RBC Heritage, Spieth has struggled to get his form back.

And this continued use of sponsor exemptions has sparked hot talks from fellow professionals who feel the spots should go to other players, too. Long-time Tour pro Robert Garrigus offered a particularly blunt assessment saying that he would play Spieth for any amount in return of his five signature event exemptions.

Spieth has always been blunt about getting sponsor exemptions. He has time and again mentioned that he doesn’t like them.

“I didn’t like asking for exemptions this year at all,” Spieth told TriadGolf in July. “I was fortunate to receive a lot of them, but you just never know. And when you miss out on elevated events, the way they’re structured, they’ve got the best players in the world at all of them, and you don’t want to miss any of them.”

Surprisingly, Jordan Spieth was not the only golfer in 2025 who faced extreme scrutiny for sponsor exemptions.

Jordan Spieth is not the only pro struggling with the ‘exemption dilemma’

6x PGA Tour winner Rickie Fowler faced similar scrutiny back in the 2025 season. He entered the 2025 season in a similar position to Spieth, receiving seven sponsor exemptions after finishing 2024 at No. 101 in the FedEx Cup. He faced intense online criticism, as many critics claimed this system was just ‘patronage’ for stars at that time.

Unlike Spieth, Fowler managed to finish No. 32 in the 2025 standings to secure automatic entry for 2026 without needing these favors. Fowler’s strong T7 finish at the Memorial Tournament and T6 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship ensured he did not have to rely on them for the 2026 season.

And in early 2026, Spieth is still finding his rhythm back with mixed results. He finished T24 at the Sony Open before missing cuts at the WM Phoenix Open (his first since 2020). And most recently, Spieth finished T29 with a 13-under-par total at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.