Jordan Spieth rejects Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas offer ahead of $1.6m battle

Jordan Spieth will debut at this week’s Cognizant Classic with hopes of clinching its $1.6million prize but declined Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas’ offers of accommodation for the tournament

Jordan Spieth says he rejected Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas‘s offers to house him while he takes part in this week’s Cognizant Classic.

The 31-year-old triple major-winning Texas native will make his debut at the Palm Beach tournament, which offers a whopping $9.2 million prize pot – with the winner taking home a cool $1.6m alone. While he’s no stranger to Floridian golfing, it will mark his first time teeing up on the PGA National Members Club.

He will see the first two rounds of the tournament with Russell Hendley and long-time friend Fowler and even admitted that the latter had offered to put him up for the duration of the tournament. Speaking to Golf By Tour Miss, Spieth explained: “Yeah, they both reached out [Fowler and Thomas] — they offered to stay with them, and I decided to just stay closer.”

However, the PGA Tour pro did say that ditching the opportunity to share living quarters won’t stop them from spending time with one another away from the greens and the fairways. He added: “Yeah, I do plan on going and seeing them and having a couple dinners and hanging out.

“They’re not far away. I’ve just not spent much time in this area at all, which is very surprising because it’s such a professional men’s golf mecca between all the guys that live here, all the great golf courses, obviously this tournament.

“So you have everything here. I just have oddly — it’s like the one place I just haven’t spent much time. But I’m really looking forward to checking it out this week. And yeah, I’ll go see those guys at their homes. They also both have kids now, so it’ll be fun — we hang out on the road all the time, so it’ll be fun to see them in their home.”