PGA Tour Injury Update: Will Nasty Shoulder Sprain End Matt Wallace’s Title Dream at the 2024 Byron Nelson?

Matt Wallace shot his career-low round on the PGA Tour on Thursday. A bogey-free 8-under 63 set him one shot ahead of seven players in the rain-delayed CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The upcoming Wells Fargo Championship and the PGA Championship meant a longshot like Wallace had a better chance in the field lacking bigwigs.  

But then there is his left shoulder. The first-round leader sprained his shoulder a few months ago. From TPC Craig Ranch, Wallace offered a crucial update on that.  

Will his shoulder play spoilsport in his PGA Tour dream?

Too much of everything hurts. Wallace learned this the hard way. Relentless practice almost put him out of the greens for a while. The Englishman admitted he hurt his shoulder from “overplaying”. And then, at the Cognizant Classic, Matt Wallace thought he was going to be out for more than a month. 

“Then I slept on it funny at the Cognizant,” Wallace said, “and I had to go and get it looked at straightaway. I thought I was going to be out for about six weeks.” Fortunately, it didn’t give the 34-year-old a serious headache. But Wallace took some time off after missing the cut at the PGA National. 

“Next day I had a bit of work on it and it was fine and I could go and play. But I knew that that was as close, that could be an injury, so I had to take a bit more time off.” So far, Wallace is doing just fine. There is little chance that his issue may pop up again, like Jordan Spieth’s wrist or Will Zalatoris’s back. Wallace further utilized the month-long break between the Texas Children’s Houston Open and the Zurich Classic to rehab his shoulder, as he didn’t qualify for the Masters. 

A series of missed cuts has pushed him to 97th in OWGR from 67th in January, and 139th in the FedEx Cup ranking. But Wallace is ‘old enough now to know it’s a long season.’ So, rather than panicking, the British International took the time off to fix his on-course problems.  

Matt Wallace looks for inspiration among youngsters

Wallace was closely watching the Masters from his home. “[W]hat I’m seeing from a lot of them, especially the younger guys, younger than me — I’m not too old, but younger than me — they’re so focused in their shot and not worrying about the outcome or what’s out there.” So, the Englishman ditched his Mexico Open philosophy of starting over par in the first round. 

Interestingly, it was Ludvig Aberg and youngsters like him, not Scottie Scheffler who grabbed his attention. Scheffler, the British International said. was on a different plane. “I look at Ludvig, the way he plays his game for someone who is so young. The new breed that’s come out on TOUR, so fast and so good anyway,” Matt Wallace said from TPC Craig Ranch. None of the two are in the field this time. The door is wide open for Wallace, and he hopes to keep the low rounds going.