Golf, like Texas weather, can change in an instant. One moment it’s sunny and predictable, the next you’re caught in a downpour of uncertainty. That’s exactly what Jordan Spieth is experiencing with his short game at the Valero Texas Open. This has made him feel frustrated, especially with the Masters beginning in less than a week. The three-time major champion is battling the unpredictability of his usually reliable chip shots, leaving him visibly frustrated. His opening round of 67 had positioned him nicely on the leaderboard at T4. He was happy to see his game back on track after Thursday.
“Yeah, it’s been a little bit of a mixed bag, but I’ve had way more excited days than I have in the last couple years, really since May of ’23 when I first injured my wrist. So it’s been way more of those in the last six events than it was before. I mean, why wouldn’t you love what we do? When we have a standard and you’re not meeting it, it can be pretty frustrating. Normally you’ve got to find it in the dirt, sometimes you need some help to do that and I think I’m on the right track and feel good about it,” he said after R1. But as Texas skies can darken without warning, his touch around the greens suddenly abandoned him.
“I lost four shots chipping from this rough around the greens on the last nine holes,” Spieth lamented during his post-game second-round press conference on Friday. His words carried the weight of someone caught in a storm without an umbrella. What should have been his shelter—a short game specialty—had suddenly become exposed.
The former World No. 1 sits at 4-under after two rounds, dropping from his impressive first-round position. His decline mirrors a pattern that’s becoming all too familiar. The Texas native admitted, “I’ve got to get better at closing these rounds out on Fridays. I had the same problem happen in Tampa.”
Behind this unexpected struggle lies a deeper story. Spieth’s wrist continues to pose challenges even after his surgery last August.“I wake up in the morning and my wrists do not feel the same, comparably,” Spieth said on Friday, just a bit before joining Smylie Kaufman for a special TV segment. “My left wrist, just to close my fingers, it feels like it’s twice the size, but after 10, 15 minutes, it’s fine. It doesn’t hurt, it’s not sore, it just is so tight every morning after sleeping. So I think I’m a little surprised that that’s staying that way.
This is a developing story..
The post Jordan Spieth’s ‘On Right Track’ Claim Turns Sour as Frustration Casts a Shadow Over Masters Amid Injury Fears appeared first on EssentiallySports.