Jordan Spieth gets his 14th straight appearance in PGA Tour playoffs without having a top 10

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Jordan Spieth reached the PGA Tour postseason for the 14th consecutive year, this time with a most curious achievement. He finished the regular season at No. 54 in the FedEx Cup despite not finishing in the top 10 in any of his 21 tournaments.

How was that possible?

For starters, top 10 really doesn't have as much relevance since 2008 when the Ryder Cup (thanks to U.S. captain Paul Azinger) went away from awarding points only to top-10 finishes.

Spieth had four finishes in the top 12, including the Masters and two signature events. Those four top 12s — the other was a tie for 11th in the Valspar Championship — accounted for 52% of his FedEx Cup points.

He played in all eight signature events this year, but he received only two exemptions — Bay Hill (tie for 11th worth 125 points) and the Travelers Championship (tie for 66th worth seven points). Take out those two sponsor exemptions and Spieth would have finished at No. 64 and still qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

And now he has to move into the top 50 after the first playoff event to reach the BMW Championship, which would get him into all the signature events next year.

To be sure, signature events are a big advantage to those who play them — 700 points to the winner compared with 500 at a regular tournament, and points are more than doubled through the 28th position. Beau Hossler didn't play a single signature event (or a major) and finished at No. 72, missing out on the postseason by 31 points.

No one cashed in like Adam Scott. He asked for only one exemption for the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and finished fourth (325 points). That helped get him in Bay Hill (tie for 11th) and he stayed high enough on the list to get into Doral (tie for fourth). Scott wound up playing six signature events and picked up 895 of his 1,218 points in the FedEx Cup.

He starts out the postseason at No. 29, assured of advancing to the BMW Championship, with an eye toward a return to the Tour Championship, which would get him in all the majors next year.

Spieth, meanwhile, hasn't made it to the Tour Championship since 2023. Odds are he will need his first top 10 of the year to get there.

With so much attention on youth the last few weeks, don't overlook Anna Huang. She made it through Ladies European Tour qualifying at age 16, and the Canadian has not missed a beat.

Huang was caught in a duel with Charley Hull on Sunday in the PIF London and held her nerve. Hull four-putted for double bogey on the 17th hole and Huang closed with an eagle to win by two. The 17-year-old now has four LET victories in the last 11 months.

When she won in Morocco in May, Huang became the youngest player with three LET wins, surpassing records previously held by Lydia Ko.

“I’ve always looked up to Lydia, she’s always been my idol growing up. There’s so much to admire about her game. She’s so calm and composed,” Huang said.

Huang's fourth victory allowed her to break into the top 50 in the women's world ranking at No. 43, and she moved to No. 2 behind Casandra Alexander on the tour's Order of Merit.

Golf will get an additional two hours of coverage on the weekdays at the opening two FedEx Cup playoff events without having to pay extra for it.

For the first time all year, ESPN will provide coverage from the FedEx St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship next week. Thursday and Friday rounds from the TPC Southwind will air on ESPN's primary linear channel from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. EDT.

The same will be the case for the BMW Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis, from 10 a.m. to noon for the first and second rounds. In both tournaments, Golf Channel will pick up the weekday coverage for four hours — starting at 2 p.m. the first week, 3 p.m. for the second week.

The Tour Championship, with only a 30-man field that typically starts around noon, does not have any additional coverage planned on ESPN.

ESPN+, a streaming service, has been the PGA Tour's provider for its featured groups.

Golf fans can debate endlessly whether Joaquin Niemann going to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League at age 23 hurt or helped his development.

But there is no arguing what it did for his wealth.

Niemann's career earnings in five years on the PGA Tour, with two victories, were $14,571,583.

In his five years on LIV Golf, where he has won nine times, the Chilean's individual earnings are $86,237,374 with one tournament left in the 2026 season. That does not include earnings for his Torque team or his signing bonus for defecting in 2022.

Megha Ganne makes her LPGA debut as a pro this week at The Standard Portland Classic with an exemption from winning the Inkster Award that recognizes the highest-ranked college golfer in her final year of eligibility.

Ganne was a four-time All-American at Stanford, which won two NCAA titles when she was there, and she won the U.S. Women's Amateur last summer at Bandon Dunes.

The award is named after Juli Inkster, who spent all four years at San Jose State, became the first player to win three straight U.S. Women's Amateur and went on to win seven LPGA majors and the career Grand Slam in her Hall of Fame career.

She is the seventh senior to win the award, following Carolina Lopez-Chacarra at Wake Forest last year. Chacarra, an LPGA rookie, recently won on the Ladies European Tour.

Webb Simpson is the latest assistant captain to be selected for Brandt Snedeker's U.S. team at the Presidents Cup in September, joining Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley. Simpson also was an assistant in 2022 at his home course of Quail Hollow. ... Michael Brennan became the second straight Wyndham Championship winner to have a streak of five straight birdies in the final round. Cameron Young did it last year. ... Fenway Sports Group has acquired a team in the WTGL indoor league for LPGA players that debuts this fall in the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Garden, Florida. Boston Common Golf will join four other teams in the WTGL — Atlanta Drive, Los Angeles, New York and Motor City. ... Stewart Cink and Zach Johnson have combined to win eight of the 16 individual tournaments on the PGA Tour Champions this year.

Jackson Koivun is the first player to reach the FedEx Cup playoffs in the same season he accepted PGA Tour membership through the PGA Tour University ranking.

“To be in the prime of your career and be as good as I think I am, I think that’s very pathetic, disappointing. Just need to go home and completely reevaluate everything.” — Brooks Koepka after failing to reach the top 70 in the FedEx Cup to qualifying for the PGA Tour's postseason.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf