[PHOTO: Alex Goodlett]
Last month at the Travelers Championship, Jordan Spieth withdrew just 12 holes into opening round, citing a neck/upper back injury. Considering the fact it was a signature event, which comes with a guaranteed pay cheque, and the fact Spieth had never withdrawn from a PGA Tour event in 297 career starts, it signalled something serious.
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Turns out, it was anything but. “Just a weird neck spasm thing,” Spieth told Kay Adams on the Up and Adams Show on Monday. “It just came up and I just couldn’t get through the round.”
Still, we haven’t seen Spieth since the opening day at TPC River Highlands, and he’s not in the field at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open, an event he’s played in each of the past three seasons. With next week’s Open Championship looming at Portrush, Adams asked the three-time major champion if he’d be back in action.
“I knew it was going to be short-lived, I’ve been back to full strength getting ready for The Open,” Spieth said. “Then we have our playoffs after that, so a lot of big events left. I have no restrictions.”
Spieth, who won The Open in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, will play in his 12th consecutive Open next week. He’s never missed the cut in his 11 prior appearances and also has a second, a T-8 and a T-9 to his name. The last time it was at Portrush in 2019, Spieth tied for 20th.
Before pulling out of the Travelers, Spieth had been displaying some signs his game was improving. In 15 starts this season on the PGA Tour, the 31-year-old has seven finishes of T-18 or better. He has not won on tour since the 2022 RBC Heritage, however.
Spieth added that while he is ready to go, he’ll be a late arrival to Northern Ireland. He and his wife Annie are expecting their third child any day now.
