MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Jordan Spieth set a goal of 67 for the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, confident it would be enough to crack the top 50 in the FedEx Cup and advance to next week. Turns out he would have only needed a 69, and even that was out of reach. Spieth and Keith Mitchell, who was knee-deep in water on the 18th trying to salvage his postseason run, narrowly missed advancing in the PGA Tour playoffs on Sunday, missing out on a chance to be guaranteed to play in all of the $20 million flagship events in 2027. A birdie on his final three holes would have done it for Spieth. Mitchell would have needed to shave two shots off his score. He made bogey from the water on the 18th. “I feel like I’m playing really good golf again, like I’m close to starting and I’m not going to be playing in a tournament for a long time,” Spieth said after closing with three straight pars for a par 70. Jordan Spieth of the United States watches a shot from a bunker on the second hole during the final round of the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind on Sunday, Aug. 16. 2026, in Memphis. Getty Images Spieth entered the first playoff event ranked 54th and was projected to need something in the top 15, depending on others around him, to reach the BMW Championship for the first time since 2023. He made it through the concerning stretch of holes (11th through 14th at TPC Southwind) with a pair of bogeys and a 30-foot birdie putt. “If you can get out of there unscathed, you know you’re looking for some opportunities on the other side,” Spieth said. But he hit his tee shot on the 15th hole far enough to the left to find the water, resulting in a bogey. His chip from behind the green on the par-5 16th was too strong and went off the green, and he missed a 15-foot birdie putt. He missed a birdie from about that distance on the 17th. Needing a birdie on the 18th hole, he came out of a dirt patch to the right of the fairway, just above the green, still with a putter in hand from 35 feet. He started walking before the long birdie putt ended before the cup, giving him a par. “I just didn’t take enough shots and … a couple of rebounds could have gone one way or the other,” he said. “I needed to be almost perfect today.” Mitchell, who has never been in the top 30 to reach the Tour Championship in his nine years on the PGA Tour, started 49th this week and was seemingly on the bubble all week. He said he never looked at a leaderboard until he walked off the 17th green. Keith Mitchell plays his shot from the seventh tee during the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship golf tournament Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Memphis. IMAGES IMAGES via Reuters Connect If he were safe, he could have played to the right, away from the water, knowing that a bogey wouldn’t hurt him. But he was right on the projected bubble of the top 50. He took the shot. He thought it was ideal, but he barely got out of the water and jumped below the danger line on the grassy bank. For Mitchell, there was no option. He took off his shoes, pulled up his pants, stood in the water up to his calves and tried it. It bounced and jumped to the left, descending the bank toward the water. He did well to make bogey for a 72. In the end, even a par would have put him less than a point behind Matt McCarty in 50th place. “I thought it was perfect when I hit it. I caught a little flurry and it came up that short,” Mitchell said. “The second shot was obviously interesting, but I didn’t do it well enough.” The new points system that places emphasis on in-season performance means the postseason isn’t as volatile. Sungjae Im, who started in 53rd place and began the final round tied for second, advanced comfortably. Mitchell was the only one in the top 50 who fell.
