J.J. Spaun withdraws from TOUR Championship with shoulder injury
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J.J. Spaun reaches par-5 No. 17 in two, makes birdie at BMW Championship
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Spaun called it quits after hitting his tee shot on the par-5 sixth hole. He was 4-over par through five holes with two bogeys and a double bogey on the card.
"I woke up Tuesday morning with like a little sharp pain in my right shoulder blade. It's happened to me before, but it's never persisted this long," he explained, revealing he had the same pain at last year's Open Championship. "Me and my physio, we kind of worked through it and hit some balls Tuesday. It flared up pretty bad. I couldn't play any holes after hitting balls for about 45 minutes.
"Wednesday I figured it would be a lot better. It kind of was. I couldn't move my neck or my head either direction. Took a few sandwich swings yesterday, and it's just basically like a knife in my right shoulder blade."
Spaun entered the week ranked 22nd in the FedExCup. He was in contention after two rounds at the BMW Championship last week before shooting 72-73 on the weekend to finish T22. By withdrawing, Spaun will finish 30th in the season-ending FedExCup.
“I just didn’t want to cause any further damage before I assess this correctly and see what’s going on in there,” Spaun said regarding his withdrawal. “Hopefully, it’s improving day by day. I just think I’ve got to take a few days off golf, maybe a week or so, and I should be fine.”
The injury also puts Spaun’s availability for the Presidents Cup in doubt. The former U.S. Open champion is ranked 10th on the U.S. Team’s points list and was expected to be in consideration for a captain’s pick by Brandt Snedeker. He played for the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Bethpage Black last fall.
"I wish the tournament started another day later or week, then I'd be final probably," he said before hinting at his Presidents Cup status. "Yeah, just kind of err on the side of caution, especially with some big events coming up. Hopefully they'll kind of consider me a little bit even though this week was a huge letdown."
