Jordan Spieth met McCormick when he was just 12. Even before Cameron McCormick saw his first swing, he relentlessly told him, “I want to win the Masters.” This helped Spieth win three majors before his 24th birthday. To say that coach has seen it all—the highs, like that dominant Masters win in 2015, and the lows, including a nearly three-year winless drought will not be wrong. But now, at the WM Phoenix Open, Spieth fights to get back in the winner’s circle. McCormick had already predicted it. At Pebble Beach. Spieth’s first competitive start since surgery last August.

“On the spectrum of patience, he is the least patient of professional athletes that I’ve been around, which is a blessing and a curse. He’s going to do the work, but when the results aren’t instantaneous, it becomes something that he has to manage and we have to manage as a team,” said Cameron McCormick after a long-range session with Spieth ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-AM. Now, at TPC Scottsdale at the ongoing WM Phoenix Open, Spieth is currently tied for second after a bogey-free 4-under 67 in his third round at TPC Scottsdale—following up a solid 65 on Friday. Safe to say, Spieth Saturdays are clearly back.

His coach talked to Gabby Herzig of The Athletic about Spieth’s resilience. “This is a different Jordan,” McCormick summed it up in just five words. “You’ve got a Jordan Spieth that is living and demonstrating patience and living and demonstrating acceptance. He’s been very easy to work with—more easy than most other times in my history coaching with him and more accepting of this being a process.”

For the first time in his career, Spieth physically can’t rush the process. Instead of forcing his way back to the top, he’s embracing the grind, level by level. That shift was evident in his return at Pebble Beach, where Spieth admitted he’s trying to “give myself some time.” McCormick sees this as a real turning point.

“There are many blessings that come out of the experiences that we go through. Oftentimes, they push us to transform, sometimes in emotional ways or psychological ways. This has been a psychological and emotional transformation opportunity that he’s really recognized and kind of leaned into,” McCormick said.

Spieth’s wrist issues, which have been nagging him since 2018, finally hit a breaking point last year. By the time he had surgery in August, the injury had become impossible to manage—forcing him into a cast and keeping him from even gripping a putter for eight weeks. His return hasn’t been about grinding harder; it’s been about rebuilding, one step at a time. Spieth might not fully realize where all of this is leading just yet, but his longtime coach has a feeling it could be something special. The big question now—how’s the wrist holding up?

What’s the current status of Jordan Spieth’s wrist?

Well, judging by his spot near the top of the leaderboard, it sure doesn’t seem to be bothering him—at least, not right now. But just a few days ago? That was a different story. Spieth jammed his wrist again at Pebble Beach, where he finished T-69, and it wasn’t exactly a small thing. “I was in a bunker on Spyglass No. 1, my 10th hole, and I had to flick one and it jammed it pretty good. It locked up on me for a little while,” he said after his first round at TPC Scottsdale.

And when his wrist isn’t moving well? It’s a problem. “Yeah, when it’s not moving well, for me, I’ve got a lot of lean and a lot of left hand involved, and if it’s not leaning, it’s going to go pretty far off line,” Spieth explained in a post-round presser. “Luckily this is a really good test these few weeks, and my expectations are low. I expect myself to make good swings, but as far as results, it’s hard to think that I should be expecting a lot after six months.” 

That said, Spieth isn’t just here to show up. He knows what he’s capable of, and he’s chasing a win. If he keeps this momentum rolling, it’s not a matter of if—it’s a matter of when.