Jordan Spieth’s head-scratching weekend struggles showed up again this week at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open.
After posting matching rounds of 2-under par 70 over the first two days of the event, Spieth entered the weekend inside the top-20 tied with Tiger Woods, among others, just a few shots back of the half-way lead. By Sunday, Spieth had tumbled down the leaderboard into a tie for 55th place thanks to rounds of 73 and 74.
As a result, Spieth garnered no Official World Ranking Points for his disappointing finish, and he dropped outside the OWGR top-50 for the first time in nearly six years to No. 51.
Jordan Spieth has dropped out of the top 50 in the world rankings (now 51st). First time outside the top 50 since August 2013––his rookie season.
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) January 27, 2020
Spieth’s fall has been precipitous since he held onto the No. 1 ranking for 26 weeks in 2016. His last victory on Tour came in the 2017 Open Championship, which included the thrilling final-round duel with Matt Kuchar.
The 26-year-old has shown glimpses of regaining his world-beating form in the last year, but he hasn’t been able to sustain his momentum nor has he been able to translate it into a victory.
Ranked as high as No. 20 in the world in 2019, Spieth finished inside the top-7 in three consecutive events between May and June of last year, which included a T-3 finish at the PGA Championship, his more recent form has been more indicative of his slide: hasn’t finished better than T43 in his last three official Tour starts.
Spieth has failed to make it to the Tour Championship either of the last two years, ending his PGA Tour season last year at the BMW Championship when he was asked to assess his season.
“I’ve gotten just too inconsistent, too far off in the long game,” he said. “I know why my swing got off. I’ve started to figure out that next step of working it back the right way and then making it consistently up there as one of the best ball-strikers in the world like I have been in the past is the next step. I’ve done it with the putting. I know I can do it with the long game.”
This week in San Diego, Spieth was upbeat and determined, saying that he expects to duplicate his early-career success soon.
“I still have some work, hopefully not very significant work, but I’m on the right track in my swing to get to where I feel I can be at that 2015 level again,’’ Spieth said. “I want it as bad or more than I did then. There is no complacency. And I believe the next run will be as fun as the first.”
Spieth will be in the field this week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open as well as next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where he’ll again look to exorcise his weekend scoring demons. As it currently stands, his ranking will prohibit him from qualifying for the first World Golf Championship of the season next month in Mexico.
