Jordan Spieth admitted that he is “very healthy” now. The three-time major champion seemed ready to battle for the 2025 Hero World Challenge title this week. He wanted to win the title for the second time in his career after beating Henrik Stenson by 10 strokes in 2014. However, Spieth didn’t have the best start to the tournament this year. The reason, reportedly, is an unexpected equipment hiccup.

As tweeted by SleeperGolf, “Just announced on the Hero World Challenge broadcast, Jordan Spieth has played the first two rounds with a cracked face on his driver. He has a new driver in the bag today. Interested to see how this changes things for him.”

Spieth uses a Titleist TSR2 Driver with a Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X shaft. As of now, it’s not clear how he cracked it or which driver he has replaced it with. It’s not uncommon for driverheads to develop cracks because of wear and tear. Jordan Spieth opened with an even-par 72 on Thursday and a 1-over-par 73 on Friday.

The three-time major champ lost 0.154 strokes with his driver on Thursday, and again 0.878 strokes on Friday. He averaged 73.07% in driving accuracy in the first two rounds of the event. Not too shabby considering Spieth’s 2025 season average is 58.15%. However, in the 14 holes he has played as of now, Spieth has reached 9 of the 10 fairways and is leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+0.582). So it appears the cracked driver has certainly had a detrimental impact on his form in the first two rounds.

It should be noted that the USGA Model Local Rule G-9 allows golfers to replace a damaged driver, but with significant caveats. It often relies on the discretion of the rules officials to assess the damage and whether to allow for a replacement in between rounds. More often than not, a cracked clubhead doesn’t cut it.

At the 2024 BMW Championship, Matt Fitzpatrick wasn’t allowed to replace his driver despite a visible crack on the clubhead. Four-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Kisner, who was an analyst with NBC Sports for the tournament, called the rule “terrible.” For Spieth, though, a cracked driver is not a new thing.

In 2016, Spieth cracked his driver just before the Masters and had to switch to a backup. More recently, he cracked his driver at the 2023 Sentry Pro-Am. He had to use a spare drive and walked away with a T13 from Kapalua.

Not so lucky this time at the Hero World Challenge, however. While he has made fewer mistakes today than on Friday, Spieth dropped to 20th position on the leaderboard. Hopefully, he can improve on that as the day progresses.

While he may not be able to compete for the title, Spieth can still fight for a top-10 finish and earn a big paycheck in The Bahamas this Sunday. He will also be eager to earn the valuable OWGR points that come along with a high-ranking finish.

Speaking of which, luck doesn’t seem to be in Spieth’s favor in 2025. Especially when he has found some form of rhythm on the fairway or has been at his best health.

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Jordan Spieth is finding it difficult to balance form, health, and luck

Fans have been waiting for Jordan Spieth to find his old form again for well over a decade. Albeit not consistently, fans have seen a few glimpses of it all through 2025. But every time he has been struck with some or the other misfortune that has put him off his game.

During THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson, it looked like Spieth was finally going to break his winless streak. However, Scottie Scheffler was also battling to overcome the same obstacle for the season. And in the end, the world #1 proved a bit too good in their hometown. Spieth ended up finishing fourth, 12 strokes off the top.

He showed flashes of brilliance again during the Memorial Tournament, where he finished at T7. While the U.S. Open was a bit too challenging, he was still able to finish T23 in the major a couple of weeks later. However, his good run of form came to an abrupt stop after he got injured in the first round of the Travelers Championship. He was caught screaming in pain after the tee shot on the 13th.

He had to withdraw from the event, a first in his career, and after 297 starts. Jordan Spieth took a month’s break to recover from the injury. He returned for The Open Championship, but hasn’t been able to find his form again ever since. In his last start before the Bahamas trip, the three-time major champ managed a T38 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.