Several months in, Jordan Spieth has more questions than answers about his lingering wrist injury.
“I'm not in any pain playing, that's what's confusing,” Spieth said ahead of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C. “If I was, I wouldn't have played anymore. It's all off the golf course weird little things where my tendon will kind of pop out, sublux or dislocate out of the groove and then I've got to get it back in or else I wouldn't be able to grip a club.”
Entering the final event of the FedExCup regular season, Spieth is mired in a non-competitive year on the PGA Tour. The 31-year-old has played a full slate (20 events), yet casual consumers wouldn't know it.
Spieth has three top-10 finishes, the last coming at the Valero Texas Open in early April. His best finish since was a T25 at the Open Championship. The three-time major winner sits 39th in the Official World Golf Rankings, 55th on DataGolf, and 63rd in the FedExCup standings (the top-70 qualify for the playoffs, beginning next week.)
“It's a very weird scenario and one that's been a little frustrating, because I would have liked to have known this is the answer or this is the answer and just have to figure it out.”
What's the deal with Jordan Spieth's wrist?
Ironically, Spieth's been let down by his “bread-and-butter.” Spieth's out-of-body driving season — 14th in strokes gained: off the tee, fifth in total driving, and 18th (!) in distance — has been negated by sloppiness around the greens. It's hard for Spieth not to wonder if his gimpy wrist might be a factor.
“It's been a frustrating year because it's been maybe my best driving year ever, and then the clubs that I make the most impact into the ground with, which normally are my bread and butter, have been pretty off,” he said. “It's not hurting, but subconsciously it's hard not to look at the numbers and think this isn't a coincidence.”
“When I'm hitting balls I'm not thinking about it, I'm not worried about it, but I just don't know subconsciously, it's too tough to measure if or if it's not making a difference.”
Spieth — who dealt with an unrelated bone spur in his wrist in 2021 — said the latest injury started bothering him in May of 2023. He said the “subluxes”, which cause pain in his swing, have occurred more regularly.
“It happened May of last year, October of last year and then it's happened — now it happens like every other week, or every week-ish at one point in time. It's something that I don't think, from what I understand, it can't — it doesn't heal or get better, so it's more of a way of life decision.”
Spieth said he's been consistently seeing doctors to “figure out what the next move is.”
“Probably going to have to do something about it this offseason. I'm going to pretend nothing's happening, fully trust it given that I'll be able to get it fixed, and I know there's a lot of golfers that have had similar situations and come back better than ever.
“I like to think hopefully I have 10 to 15 years of prime and some of my best golf left, so I'll be optimistic about the process.”
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