Jordan Spieth has been relying on sponsor exemptions to participate in the Signature Events lately. He has participated in over five such events since 2025, and his last victory came at the 2022 RBC Heritage, which sparked a huge debate among fans. Despite this, he just received more special treatment from the third Signature Event of the 2026 season.
Paul Hodowanic of PGATOUR.com recently shared the news on X, writing, “The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard has announced three sponsor exemptions: Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, and Chris Kirk. Spieth was notably not given an exemption into the API a year ago.”
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Horschel’s 2024 resume includes a T2 at The Open, a T7 at the Wyndham Championship, and a T10 at the FedEx St. Jude. And despite missing all the cuts in 2026, Kirk has finished T5 at the Wyndham Championship 2025 and T9 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last year. But the massive peace treaty between Jordan Spieth and the API signals something nobody foresaw. The two parties had been at odds after the API snubbed the 13-time PGA Tour winner for a sponsor exemption.
In 2025, Spieth finished beyond the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings and needed help. He and Rickie Fowler both wrote formal letters to the committee asking for a chance to play. However, the tournament organizers rejected both of them, choosing Justin Rose, Min Woo Lee, and Rafael Campos instead. Spieth did not take his own rejection quietly and delivered a frosty critique.
“I’m bummed not to be there next week. 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,” the 32-year-old said.
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While Spieth felt the sting at Bay Hill, he found plenty of love at other major stops. In 2025 alone, he received major exemptions into the Genesis Invitational, the RBC Heritage, and the Memorial. He also played at the Truist Championship and Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge via a personal invite. These exemptions kept him in the hunt for huge $20 million purses despite his inconsistent scoring.
Players usually qualify by finishing in the top 50 of the previous season’s FedEx Cup standings. They can also get in via the Aon Next 10 or the Aon Swing 5 rankings. However, only four sponsor spots exist per event, and they are strictly for PGA Tour members. And these invites are often controversial.
Though Spieth hasn’t won since 2022, he is still considered one of the most brilliant comeback players on Tour for producing spectacular moments.
From his wild round at the Hero World Challenge — where he made one double bogey, four bogeys, two eagles, six birdies, and the rest pars — to making the cut at the Players Championship with a dramatic final tee shot that nearly found the water, and his hole-out eagle on the 18th at Spyglass Hill in 2026, Jordan Spieth provides the kind of “must-see TV” that sponsors crave.
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As Adam Scott noted, “Sponsor invites are purely who they think they want there,” and for television partners, that usually means Spieth.
However, this reliance on exemptions has drawn criticism from fellow players
Longtime Tour pro Robert Garrigus delivered a rough assessment of the star’s constant use of these sponsor invites: “What’s happening to our Tour? So does that mean one more sponsor invite for Jordan Spieth? Tell Spieth I’ll play him for any amount he wants. I win, I get his five invites to the signature events.”
April 10, 2016 – Augusta, GA, USA – Jordan Spieth watches his shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the Masters on Sunday, April 10, 2016, at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. Masters final round – ZUMAm67_
Robert Garrigus believes these spots should be earned solely on the course rather than through name recognition.
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Spieth has responded to these harsh comments with a mix of both humility and strong defiance. He admitted that he does not like asking for exemptions and feels the heat from his friends:
“I was catching strays for no reason from guys who I had pretty good relationships with. Everyone’s going to ask. I’m not, like, paying (tournaments) to get in. There’s a reason that they’re going to pick me to go in. If it’s going to be helpful to their tournament, then they’re going to want me there, until they don’t want me there.”
Rickie Fowler faced a very similar firestorm in 2025. He received six exemptions into eight Signature Events despite ranking outside of the cutline at the time. Fowler eventually squeaked into the playoffs in 32nd place thanks to points earned from those specific invites. Many critics claimed this system was just ‘patronage’ for stars instead of rewarding the best performers of that time as well.
Coming back to Jordan Spieth, he is already showing off his old magic at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. After the Sentry was canceled due to drought, he opened with a spectacular 6-under par at the first Signature event of the season. He did not make a single bogey in the first round and dunked an eagle at Spyglass Hill. This performance proves that ‘The Golden Boy’ still has the skills to back up his lucky invites.
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