Jordan Spieth still fighting to solve 1 frustrating issue as Masters looms

Jordan Spieth’s return to competitive golf following offseason wrist surgery has been a mixed bag to this point. That was expected.

The three-time major champion played his way into contention at the WM Phoenix Open but could not put pressure on Thomas Detry on Sunday. He missed the cut at the Genesis Invitational but played well at the Cognizant Classic, carding a T9 finish. Spieth flashed during the opening round of the Players Championship but faded quickly. He struggled out of the gates at the Valspar but put together solid second and third rounds before faltering on Sunday.

With the 2025 Masters looming, Spieth arrived at the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio looking to polish up every aspect of his game to give himself a good chance to recapture his Augusta National magic next week.

Spieth shot a five-under 67 in the first round on Thursday, but a frequent problem reared its head on Friday as Spieth bogeyed two of his final three holes and missed a 6-foot putt for birdie in between. That bumpy finish left him eight shots off the lead of Brian Harman. Spieth’s troubles on Friday have popped up at a few tournaments during his comeback. He was riding a heater on Friday at the Valspar before playing his final four holes in three over. At the second round at the Cognizant, Spieth was four under through 13 but played his final five holes in three over, including a double bogey at the par-3 17th.

“I’ve got to get better at closing these rounds out on Fridays,” Spieth said Friday after his round in San Antonio. “I had the same problem happen in Tampa. It’s not like a trend or anything; they just were random things each day, and this one happened to be misjudging chips, which is normally a specialty of mine. I’m just a little — a little, how you feel when you’re on a bad run of cards and like, man, on the last hole I’m like surely this is going to jump a little bit and run and then that one spins. Like, I just never would have guessed it would spin. Misjudging them stinks.”

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Spieth has two top-10 finishes this season but hasn’t done anything particularly well during the early stages of his comeback.

He currently ranks 44th or lower in all key Strokes Gained metrics. He is 95th in putting, 79th in approach and 52nd off the tee.

Per DataGolf, Spieth’s numbers tick up a bit when adjusted for field strength, but he still isn’t playing like Spieth of old.

It has been eight years since Spieth’s last major win and three since his last PGA Tour victory. It has been a long time since the 31-year-old has played pain-free golf. Before his return at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am, Spieth described his swing as “wet concrete.” His goal early in his return was to rediscover the good habits and swing feel that made him one of the best players in the world.

A month later at the Players Championship, Spieth made it clear that he is still far away from feeling like Jordan Spieth.

“When I stand over it and I’m not trying to avoid things,” Spieth said of when he would know he’s truly back. “Instead [of what I’m doing now], I’m picking a target and I’m very confident it’s going to start on that target and move to where I want it. So pretty much where most of these guys are playing from, I would like to get there.

“I’m doing a really good job of battling it,” Spieth said at TPC Sawgrass of his wrist. “I had to kind of rebuild stuff from a few months of nothing, and it wasn’t like I was coming back to something that was already great right before. I was in some really bad habits for a year and a half.”

Spieth is building himself back up. He knows the progress won’t be linear. There have been more good days than bad on his road back, including a productive Wednesday range session at TPC San Antonio, where he felt he found something with the driver. He followed that with a second round in which he didn’t have control of his golf ball at all.

Two mores stand between Spieth and a return to Augusta National. He won’t arrive in top form, but the azalea trees and Magnolia Lane have a way of getting Spieth to find the best of himself even if he can’t explain where it comes from.