Playing Through Injuries, Spieth Trying to Regain Traction

Despite struggles at Nelson, former Jesuit standout confident about returning to top form

As of early May, Jordan Spieth hadn’t won a golf tournament in more than two years, and he’d won just twice in the past seven years.

The former Jesuit Dallas standout has remained competitive on the PGA Tour and continued to flash signs of greatness. He’s still ranked among the top 25 golfers in the world.

But the 30-year-old hasn’t been able to recapture his championship form, when he won 10 times in a 27-month span between 2015 and 2017, including three major titles.

The latest frustration for Spieth came at his hometown event, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He missed the cut while battling a wrist injury that has plagued him for months.

That’s the same injury that caused him to miss the tournament at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney a year ago, and has continued to delay his quest for a victory in front of his home fans.

Spieth fired consecutive rounds of 68-70-138, or 4-under par, which wasn’t enough on a course yielding low scores throughout the week. Before the event, he talked about refocusing mentally.

“I believe that I’m really close to some great things,” Spieth said. “Sometimes that can be disguised right before it happens. I’m believing that has been the case and need a couple confidence-building rounds or whatever it may be, and feel like I can go on a really nice run. That’s the plan.”

The Nelson is where Spieth made his first Tour start as a teenage amateur in 2010, and finished inside the top 20. He has 12 starts at the event, more than any other tournament, and has played the weekend 10 times.

Almost every time, he’s been among the favorites and has drawn the largest galleries, but he had rarely been a factor on Sunday until his top 10 showing in 2021 followed by a runner-up finish the following year.

“I would love to win this event. It would mean more to me than most events,” he said. “Obviously I’ve really enjoyed the support I’ve had over the years here.”

Despite some inconsistency, Spieth remains hopeful that his game is trending upward. After all, he placed in the top 10 in three of his first eight starts this season.

“I haven’t had the year I wanted to have after getting off to a pretty optimistic start,” Spieth said. “Three top 10s to this point wasn’t really what I had planned. I would love to shoot up leaderboards and be a little more consistent and have chances to win golf tournaments.”