HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — The left wrist injury Jordan Spieth first suffered a week before the PGA Championship last year hasn’t gone away.
That doesn’t necessarily means it’s worse — or better.
“It’s a come-and-go thing,” Spieth said last week after his pro-am round at the RBC Heritage. “I could oddly enough twist in the wrong way getting off the ground, and I couldn’t play tomorrow. But I could play the next day.”
Spieth said the tendon sheath is torn enough that it won’t hold the tendon perfectly in place. He said he could lift a 20-pound weight without any issue. But then something small, like placing his hand on the counter to pick something up, could trigger it.
It was fine when he started the first round Thursday. He had it taped up Friday and went without the next day.
Spieth doesn’t expect any changes to his schedule, though he has one eye on the offseason to figure out what to do.
“It’s not really a surgical thing, it’s a rest thing,” he said. “From who I’ve talked to in other sports, the ulnar side of the wrist is hard to heal.”
Spieth said he saw a hand specialist last offseason and had imaging done, and he has yet to solve the issue.
“When it pops up, instead of me being out for a month, I’m out for a day,” he said.
NO. 1 AND THE MAJORS
One way to measure how much Scottie Scheffler has been on top of his game is his appearance as the No. 1 player in the majors.
The Masters was the eighth time he went into a major at No. 1 in the world. Only three other players have done that more since the world ranking began in 1986 — Dustin Johnson with 15, Greg Norman with 24 and Tiger Woods with 55.
Winning at No. 1 doesn’t happen all that often. Both times Scheffler won the Masters he was No. 1 in the world. No one else in the non-Woods division has done that. Ian Woosnam (1991), Fred Couples (1992) and Johnson (2020) won the Masters at No. 1, while Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship (2014) as the top-ranked player.
Woods won 11 of his 15 majors at No. 1 in the world.
RETURN DATE
Adam Schenk will go through the rest of the year knowing he’s headed back to the Masters because he tied for 12th in his debut. He still can’t imagine how it unfolded for him.
“I thought if we birdied one of the last two holes, we’d have a good chance,” he said.
He settled for two pars, signed for a 73 and was tied for 13th.
“I knew there were a couple of people on the course that could help me,” Schenk said. “It really weird rooting against people. I don’t like doing that. And it was Cam Davis, the nicest guy out here.”
Davis needed 35 feet for birdie, just off the back of the green, when his putt had too much pace, too much break and kept rolling left of the pin until it was off the green. He chipped up to 3 feet and missed the putt, making double bogey.
That moved Schenk up to a tie for 12th. He was thrilled Davis made par on No. 18 to also finish in a tie for 12th. All in all, a great debut.
“If he had made birdie on the last hole, it would have been motivation for me to finish top 50 in the world, make the Tour Championship, whatever,” Schenk said about the paths back. “Just knowing how badly I want to get back there. To know I’m there is nice.”
As for the rest of the week, he has no idea how much money he spent in the pro shop.
“I can tell you my wife spent more than me,” Schenk said. “The more I went in the pro shop, I kept buying.”
SARGENT WAITS
The PGA Tour University ranking already has produced Ludvig Aberg, an exceptional talent who within a year of leaving Texas Tech won on the European tour, the PGA Tour, played in the Ryder Cup and was runner-up at the Masters.
As much as Scottie Scheffler is dominating golf, Aberg already is seen as one of his biggest threats.
Next in line is Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt. But some patience is required.
Sargent already is eligible for a PGA Tour card through the accelerated ranking set aside for underclassmen. But he’s going to stay for his senior year, deferring his card until 2025.
That got a nod of approval from Aberg.
“He’s a tremendous golf player,” Aberg said. “I think he’s got some good people around him making good decisions. For me in my case, I think a fourth year at Tech really helped me. It helped me keep developing, keep getting better and keep maturing as a player and as a person.
“It is a little bit different playing tour golf than it is in college, but I’m sure he’ll be ready whenever his time comes.”
JUPITER LINKS
Tiger Woods finally has a roster for his TGL team called, “Jupiter Links, which draws in players living in Scottsdale, Arizona (Max Homa), Dallas (Tom Kim) and Aiken, South Carolina (Kevin Kisner).
Woods is part owner of Jupiter Links and a co-founder of TMRW Sports, the entertainment outfit behind the technology league that will be played in an arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, starting Jan. 7.
“I have already shared my excitement and optimism for TGL as a league and product,” Woods said. “Now that we have finalized our roster with a team of world-class golfers, I am even more confident that this group will proudly represent the Jupiter area and connect with our fans for years to come.”
PRESIDENTS CUP
The International team for the Presidents Cup is building some familiarity in the back room. It’s the same leadership as 2022, except for Ernie Els stepping in for K.J. Choi.
International captain Mike Weir said his four assistants would be Els, Trevor Immelman, Camilo Villegas and Geoff Ogilvy. Two years ago at Quail Hollow, Immelman was the captain and had Weir, Villegas, Ogilvy and Choi as assistants.
Els was the 2019 captain and gave the International team a real identity with its shield on the logo. He was not part of the 2022 matches.
The Presidents Cup is at Royal Montreal on Sept. 26-29.
DIVOTS
With his victory at the RBC Heritage, Scottie Scheffler moved to No. 10 on the PGA Tour career earnings list with $61,258,464. This is his fifth full season. … The PGA Tour Champions has had seven winners from seven countries through seven tournaments this year. … The Zurich Classic of New Orleans has three sets of brothers in the field for the PGA Tour’s only team event — Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick, twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard and twins Pierceson and Parker Coody. … Matthieu Pavon and Christiaan Bezuidenhout left Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for Japan to play in a European tour event.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Scottie Scheffler joins Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson as the only players with multiple seasons of at least four wins over the last 25 years.
FINAL WORD
“Scottie is tremendously talented and a hard worker and sadly, a better person. I wish I could hate him.” — Max Homa on Scottie Scheffler.
