Jordan Spieth will finish off his historic rookie season on the PGA Tour with an appearance in the Presidents Cup next week at Muirfield Village.
Spieth fresh out of the University of Texas began 2013 with no status on any professional golf tour. Per PGA Tour rules he was allowed just six sponsor’s exemptions into PGA Tour tournaments and he made the most of them.
He missed the cut in his first start at the Farmers Insurance Open, but earned $65,000 with a T-22 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
With no invitations to play on the PGA Tour for the rest of February, Spieth entered two events on the Web.com Tour and collected a T-7 in Panama and T-4 in Colombia.
He struck pay dirt with a runner-up finish on the PGA Tour in Puerto Rico at the beginning of March. He earned $308,000 and the high finish got him into the Tampa Bay Championship.
He earned nearly $150,000 with a T-7 finish there and was awarded a special temporary exemption by the PGA Tour. Spieth was now able to accept unlimited sponsor’s exemptions and tournament directors were more than excited to have him at their events.
In just four events through the middle of March he had two top-10 finishes and had earned over $500,000 on tour.
Through April and May he missed a couple of cuts, but also had top-10 finishes at Hilton Head, the Crowne Plaza, and Congressional. He was now over $1 million in total prize money for the year and getting close to earning his PGA Tour card.
Spieth, just 19 years old, became the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 1911, when he broke through to win the John Deere Classic in July. The $828,000 first-place check put him at $1.9 million for the year and earned him full membership to the PGA Tour.
He also earned a spot in the Open Championship at Muirfield, a trip to Augusta National for the 2014 Masters and a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Even though he was invited to the lucrative WGC-Bridgestone in August, he declined and took a week off. He needed the time to rest before the final push for the PGA Championship and the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The strategy evidently worked.
Although he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, he added one more runner-up finish at the Wyndham Championship where he lost a playoff to Patrick Reed for the win.
He began the FedEx Cup playoffs with a T-19 at The Barclays. He followed up with a T-4 at the Deutsche Bank and a T-16 at the BMW Championship.
Spieth finished the Tour Championship tied for runner-up with Steve Stricker and finished No. 7 in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
He tied Bill Haas and Brandt Snedeker for the most top-10 finishes for the year at nine. He earned over $3.8 million in prize money for the year and another $700,000 from the FedEx Cup bonus pool.
He was awarded PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors and will play in the Presidents Cup.
He has moved to No. 21 in the Official World Golf Rankings and it appears will be finding his way to the top of leaderboards for many years to come.
Jordan Spieth will remember 2013 for a long time.