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JJ Spaun has withdrawn from the Tour Championship. | Credit: Getty Images
The 30-player field that started the Tour Championship is now even smaller following the withdrawal of JJ Spaun with a shoulder injury during the first round.
The 2025 US Open champion was four over after five holes at East Lake before he opted to withdraw.
Afterwards, he explained the problem began two days before the start of the tournament.
He said: “I woke up Tuesday morning with like a little sharp pain in my right shoulder blade. It’s actually kind of – it’s happened to me before, but it’s never persisted this long.
“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.”
Spaun tried again on Wednesday, although he continued to struggle.
“Wednesday I figured it would be a lot better,” he said. “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.”
Despite his withdrawal from the $40m event, Spaun believes the injury is improving – just not enough to compete this week.
He added: “Yeah, it’s disappointing to – I tried to push through it. Today it felt a lot better, like mobility-wise, but I think with the torque and the amount of force in a golf swing, it just doesn’t feel very comfortable.
“I’m nowhere in a – you know, point in my game health-wise to be able to compete at the highest level.
Spaun played the first five holes before his withdrawal | Credit: Getty Images
“I just didn’t want to cause any further damage before I assess this correctly and see what’s going on in there. 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.
“I didn’t want to make a naive decision by pushing through to finish 30th. I wasn’t playing my best, and it’s just hard to complete a backswing right now.”
As to what is at the root of the issue, Spaun speculated it was a muscular problem. He added: “Who knows? We kind of treated it as soft tissue, muscle kind of strain.
“I’ve had this in the past. I had it at The Open last year, but it was on the other side. I think, when I sleep with too high of a pillow and I’m kind of like that for so long, it disturbs like the rhomboid muscle in there.
“But the other side wasn’t hurting my backswing last year, but it’s on the right this time. It’s something I’ve dealt with on the other side of my back, but not this side.”
JJ Spaun won April’s Valero Texas Open | Credit: Getty Images
The withdrawal marks a disappointing end to the season for Spaun, who qualified for the Tour Championship after placing 22nd in the FedExCup standings.
Spaun, who has had three top-10 finishes in 2026 including victory at the Valero Texas Open, said: “It sucks to end the year this way, but that’s life. I turned 36 last week, and I think maybe that’s just kind of what happens when you’re in your mid-30s now.”