Jordan Spieth withdraws with injury for first time in PGA career

Jordan Spieth withdrew from the Travelers Championship during Thursday’s first round because of a neck/upper back injury, something he never had done in his PGA Tour career.

Spieth, 31, pulled out on the 13th hole at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., after Golf Channel cameras spotted him dealing with the issue earlier in the round and eventually getting treatment during the turn. 

He was 5-over through 12 holes when he finally decided to withdraw, the first time he had done so in 297 PGA Tour starts.

“Everything was great in my gym session, and I’ve been very, very excited to go out and play. Things have been getting better and better, and then my right scap just kind of locked — like tightened midway through the warmup, and I just kept hitting, and then all of a sudden it was moving up, everything around it started to — and then it was over the left and then it was like everything, so I stopped,” he said, according to the PGA Tour website. 

“It was both sides of my neck and upper back, and then I moved over to — I quit 30 minutes early from my warmup and came back to the table with my physio who was out there on the range … I just wasn’t moving very well … then I hit my tee shot on 13, and it legitimately really hurt. I was walking off that tee, and I’m like, if it’s even harder to turn, then I’m not going to be able to make a backswing that’s even useful, and that’s what happened on the bunker shot.”

Spieth, who had won the Travelers in 2017, also said the injury was unexpected and random. 

The golfer had recently returned to action after a wrist surgery forced him to miss the back half of the 2024 golf schedule. 

Spieth has had eight top-25 finishes this year and this had been his 10th start in his last 12 weeks.

“I was looking at this being the strongest one, and I was very confident about that. Everything I had done in practice and the pro-am showed me it’s going to be a really good event. It’s just a very weird circumstance. It’s disappointing,” he said.

Scottie Scheffler and Austin Eckroat, who both shot 8-under 62s, share the lead after the first round.