Jordan Spieth gunning for Ryder Cup over FedEx Cup defense

We all tend to want what we don’t have, not more of what we’ve already got – including Jordan Spieth.

Spieth enters this week’s PGA Tour season- and playoff-ending Tour Championship with a chance to become the first player to successfully defend the FedEx Cup title. He can’t guarantee a second $ 10 million haul with a win in the Tour Championship, but he’d have a good chance at a repeat if he can pull it off.

Jordan Spieth has a chance to repeat as FedEx Cup winner. (Getty Images)

However, Spieth, like a number of his U.S. Ryder Cup team members have, expressed the sentiment that he’d rather have his hands on the Ryder Cup in two Sundays than again on the FedEx Cup this Sunday.

“I don’t have a Ryder Cup,” Spieth said.

He added, “You want something that you don’t have. That’s a trophy that I’ve watched the other side of it now, and it hurt. It was tough at the closing ceremony (in 2014), and it was tough.

“We had a good time that evening, but when we boarded the plane back home, it was an empty feeling. We don’t want that again. We remember that, those of us that were there, and the guys that were there in Medinah (in 2012), we want that celebration. We want that champagne falling off the balcony like they had wherever, in Valhalla (in 2008).”

Spieth will be making his second Ryder Cup appearance at Hazeltine. In his rookie effort at Gleneagles in the ’14 loss by a 16.5-11.5 margin, Spieth went 2-1-1.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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