What Happened to Jordan Spieth? The Pro Golfer’s Career Was in Jeopardy After an Injury

Golf phenom Jordan Spieth maintained a steady career since entering the industry by winning the U.S. Junior Amateur twice, becoming the only golfer other than Tiger Woods to do so. Jordan also followed Tiger's lead by tying the legendary golfer as the youngest golfer (behind to win the Masters, earning his first major win in 2015.

The Dallas, Texas native's career has only soared from his first Masters, as his elite short game and mental fortitude made him a household name and a consistent fan favorite. However, several years into his career, Jordan received a life-changing health diagnosis that derailed his career. Here's what happened.

Jordan was at the height of his career when he raised concern from his fans in 2023. According to Golfweek, the athlete suffered a wrist injury in his left tendon the week before the 2023 PGA Championship. The injury caused Jordan to remove himself from various events, including the Byron Nelson in his hometown of Dallas, which at the time was sponsored by AT&T.

The athlete discussed his ongoing injury further with Golf.com and said he had been experiencing persistent pain in his wrist leading up to the May 2023 event, but was certain it would go away with time.

"And it’s kind of been something this year where that kind of dislocation has happened, you know, 20-some odd times since February and it started to happen more and more,” Jordan explained to the outlet. "So it was something that couldn’t fix itself with rest, unfortunately. So that’s why I ended up having to do this.”

Jordan initially tried to play through the pain, competing in events like the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, but the lingering discomfort limited his game. His normally crisp iron play and reliable touch around the greens were noticeably off, leading to missed cuts and inconsistent finishes. Per Jordan's website, he ended the 2023 season at No. 15 in the world but has since fallen to No. 47 in the Official World Golf Ranking after what he termed one of his most frustrating seasons.

While Jordan admitted his wrist injury wasn't too unbearable initially, the pain quickly became too much for him to handle on his own. After suffering with the injury for over a year, he began to notice it was affecting his personal and professional life, telling Golfweek in an interview on his website that his wrist would dislocate when he would do everyday tasks like giving his daughter a bath.

"It was hard to measure, that’s why I didn’t get it done sooner,” the athlete said. “There was no telling what would cause it... It wasn’t like hurting me swinging, so it was more of a how much is my subconscious making adjustments that are not good into the ball.”

Jordan added that not being able to support his kids physically was the driving force for his recovery.

“That was the number one reason I ended up getting it done... it wasn’t going to heal itself,” he said. “If nothing else, then I do something that, you know, I can get back to actually shooting a basketball and throwing a baseball and playing with my kids.”

Jordan ultimately opted for treatment and a period of intense physical therapy, stepping away from competition during critical events like the Presidents Cup. However, he planned to make a comeback in 2025, which manifested when he competed in the annual Masters' Par 3 Contest in April 2025.