Jordan Spieth revealed he was almost forced to withdraw from the RBC Heritage after aggravating a long-running wrist injury while hitting a bunker shot.
Spieth arrived on Hilton Head Island looking to rediscover some much-needed form having missed the cut in three of his last four starts, including at last week’s Masters.
The American showed signs of encouragement as he shot up the leaderboard on Friday after a four-under-par 67 at Harbour Town but revealed afterwards that he was almost unable to compete in the second round due to an issue with his wrist.
The injury first affected the three-time Major champion at last year’s PGA Championship and Spieth is yet to find a permanent fix. The issue flared up at the Players last month and a similar situation arose on Thursday after he jammed his wrist into the face of a bunker.
“I jammed it on 13 yesterday into the bulkhead on my bunker shot and it popped out,” he told the PGA Tour’s official website. “On 14 I thought I was done for the week. Then [the tendon]came back in, and I was like, ‘alright I’m good.’
“It’s a thing that’s recurring. I was lucky because most times it comes out, and I can’t turn it [left], and so I would have been screwed. It’s the ECU [extensor carpi ulnaris] tendon. It came out and came right back in its groove.”
Spieth underwent extensive physio between the first two rounds and will wear tape on the affected wrist for the rest of the tournament but says the issue does not tend to inhibit his swing.
NEWS: Jordan Spieth told me he nearly withdrew during the first round of the RBC Heritage after a tendon in his wrist “popped out” while hitting a bunker shot on the 13th hole. “I thought I was done for the week.”Here’s the video of the shot. Full comments in the 🧵 pic.twitter.com/1tSZcgxY0IApril 19, 2024
“Because my [wrist] sheath is torn, it doesn’t really hold [the tendon] in as well,” Spieth said. ”It’s one of those things, like it’s not affecting speed, anything like that. It’s just [a case of] managing it.”
Spieth starts his third round at 11.40am local time alongside Ryder Cup partner Justin Thomas. The pair are six shots back of the lead which is shared by Tom Hoge, Sepp Straka, Collin Morikawa and JT Poston.
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