Before everything changed in early 2024, Will Gordon was quietly building momentum on the PGA Tour. A former Vanderbilt standout and 2019 SEC Player of the Year, Gordon had clawed his way back to the Tour after winning the 2022 Albertsons Boise Open on the Korn Ferry circuit. He’d capped 2023 with a solo third-place finish at the World Wide Technology Championship—his best career result on the PGA Tour—and entered the new season with growing confidence and full status secured. Then, just weeks into the 2024 season, something happened.

After competing at the WM Phoenix Open in February 2024, Gordon disappeared from the leaderboards. No injury press conference, no cryptic Instagram posts, just silence. Fans didn’t know it yet, but the 6-foot-3 North Carolinian had been forced into an extended hiatus from the game, one that would span roughly five months. By the time he returned, he’d missed over a dozen events and seen his FedExCup ranking spiral out of reach. His 2024 season was effectively derailed. So, what exactly sidelined Will Gordon?

Gordon’s hidden injury and a lengthy absence

The cause was a debilitating neck injury that Gordon and his team kept mostly under wraps until late in the year. According to NBC Sports, Gordon’s cervical spine, specifically the cervicothoracic junction, had become severely inflamed. “Three vertebrae became so inflamed they weren’t turning left,” the report stated. The inflammation also impacted Gordon’s ulnar nerves, creating tension that radiated down both arms into his elbows.

This was no typical “tight neck” or golf-related tweak. The condition restricted his range of motion so severely that rotational movement, essential to any swing, was virtually impossible. He also experienced neurological symptoms like tingling and weakness in his arms, which compromised both feeling and power. The injury occurred after the WM Phoenix Open in February 2024. Gordon did not play another competitive round until July 2024, missing approximately 10–12 PGA Tour events in the prime stretch of the season, including stops like the Arnold Palmer Invitational, PLAYERS Championship, and Wells Fargo.

Even after returning in the second half of the year, Gordon struggled. He failed to make significant progress in the FedExCup standings and finished the 2023–24 season at 191st, far outside the top 125 cut to retain full PGA Tour status. “Unfortunately, I haven’t played well enough to… give myself more breathing room,” Gordon later admitted in an emotional post-round interview. To understand just how disruptive this stretch was for Gordon, it’s important to look at the underlying medical issue that triggered his absence in the first place.

The medical breakdown: A cervical spine crisis

The official cause of the injury was cervical spine inflammation at the juncture between the neck and upper back. This region, known medically as the cervicothoracic junction, plays a key role in upper-body mobility. When the inflammation set in, Gordon’s ability to rotate his neck, particularly to the left, was severely compromised.

The situation was compounded by nerve impingement. The ulnar nerves, which run from the neck through the elbow into the hands, were compressed by the inflamed vertebrae, leading to loss of sensation and coordination in his arms. For a golfer, this is career-threatening. “There were three vertebrae that just wouldn’t move, and it caused ulnar nerve tension all the way into both elbows,” NBC Sports reported. Gordon did not undergo surgery, opting instead for an intensive rehab and treatment plan. He returned to competition symptom-free in October 2024, nearly eight months after the first signs of the issue.

The nature of Gordon’s injury aligns with conditions faced by veterans like Brian Gay and Rory Sabbatini, both of whom underwent cervical disc replacement surgeries after battling similar nerve-related issues. Gordon, though, managed to avoid going under the knife. So, how is Gordon doing this year?

2025’s early struggles and Rocket Mortgage redemption

By the start of 2025, Gordon was playing under a major medical extension, a limited exemption that gave him a handful of events to earn enough FedExCup points to regain full status. But early signs weren’t encouraging. He missed 9 of his first 13 cuts to open the season, despite flashes of form at the Farmers Insurance Open (T7) and Byron Nelson (T5). That left him in a precarious spot entering the 2025 Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit: his final event under the exemption.

Gordon entered Round 2 needing to make the cut just to maintain a foothold on Tour. Anything less, and his status would drop to conditional or worse. Through 16 holes, it didn’t look promising. Then he birdied 17. Then he birdied 18. He walked off the course at 6-under, right on the projected cut line. He had done it, but barely. The two clutch birdies ensured he made the cut on the number, giving him enough FedExCup points to retain his PGA Tour card for the rest of 2025.

Fighting back tears afterward, Gordon said what many in his position might feel: “You get what you earn in this game.” As of June 2025, Will Gordon sits at 136th in the FedExCup standings, not yet safe, but still alive. Given where he was a year ago—off Tour, in pain, unable to turn his head—it’s already a major step forward.