‘Didn’t Earn My Way’: Jordan Spieth Backtracks on His Salty Take After Getting Snubbed at Arnie’s Place

Jordan Spieth‘s controversial statement about missing out on exemption caught a lot of heat a few days ago. Spieth confessed that “I’m bummed not to be [at Bay Hill] next week” during an interview prior to the tournament. He received a lot of heat for not trying to find a way in on merit. Fans questioned his eligibility to ask for an exemption after the horrid season he had in 2024.

Getting berated by the community seems to have made him face the reality. And he has retracted from his statement during THE PLAYERS Championship 2025 press conference. During the interview, he was asked, “You expressed how kind of bummed you were not to be out there last week. What did you do last week and how did not being out there last week maybe affect your mindset coming in this week?”

Spieth shared “I was just home. I was in a normal week. I only took one day off. I typically take more than that off, but I liked what I was doing, and I knew exactly what I wanted to accomplish from the Cognizant. So I just took Monday off and then I was right back at it Tuesday. I did a mix of maybe three practice days and three playing days, which is pretty typical at home.” It seems that the Dallas local was keeping himself prepared for his next challenge.

The 31-year-old continued to tell the reporters about his time at home. “Then I came here Sunday afternoon, just to get in, get settled, and then I went through my routine here. We have as good of facilities as anywhere in the world here, so if the weather was better on the weekend here I would have probably come in earlier. But yeah, it was just a normal week,” Spieth said before he went back to missing the 2025 Arnold Palmer Invitational. Tracking back on his statement from a few days ago, he stated, “It was tough watching, but I didn’t earn my way into the event, so it’s a little easier to watch that way.”

Yes, Spieth has finally agreed that a player of his calibre should be earning his way into events. As a closing statement to his response, he added, “It was fine because, when I missed the BMW and the TOUR Championship last year, that stung more. Just because that’s like the whole season. This one, you know, you can’t really rely on getting in, you have to play your way in for certainty.”