Five things to know about Davis Thompson

Jordan Spieth, the former world No. 1 and 2015 FedExCup champion, has revealed that his three-year slump was precipitated by a previously undisclosed bone chip in his left hand. According to the Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner, Spieth hurt himself most likely while lifting weights and chose not to have surgery. Asked about his injury at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship on Monday, Spieth said that by compensating with his grip and swing in order to avoid pain, he turned his poor play into a full-on slump. RELATED: Play the Bracket Challenge | Print out your bracket "I probably fought changes that would have helped me turn things in the right direction a little bit sooner," said Spieth, whose resurgence (FedExCup No. 47) has been a big story in 2021. With top-15 finishes in four of his last six starts - contending at the Waste Management Phoenix Open (T4), AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am (T3), and Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard (T4) - he has gone from 92nd to 52nd in the Official World Golf Ranking. Specifically, Spieth said, he fought strengthening his grip starting in 2018. "As the year went on my grip got weaker, the club face got more open and then I needed to flip at impact and so it just required more timing," he said. "From somebody who already has kind of a weaker grip to start with, you don’t really have much wiggle room on that side of the things. "And so, it’s something that I’ve got to continue to try and work on and make sure it’s not an issue," Spieth continued. "It was 100 percent responsible for me not being able to strengthen my grip, which in turn then is probably normally the first thing guys go to, if something gets a little bit off is, all right, where in my setup are things different?" Spieth's slump has been one of the most vexing storylines in golf over the last three years. He hasn't made the TOUR Championship since 2017, which was also the last year he won, and failed to qualify for the recent WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession. Missing the tournament, he said, "lit a fire" as he resolved not to miss any more going forward. The 49th seed at the WGC-Dell Technologies, he will play 15 seed Matt Fitzpatrick in the first round of pool play at Austin Country Club on Wednesday. Matthew Wolff and Corey Conners are also in his group. "It was very much a reason," Spieth said of the injury and how it impacted his slump. "But I mean, everybody’s got some reason for something that they get off. That was mine, and I certainly could have handled it differently and feel good that right now it’s not an issue."

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Things were looking good after Russell Henley shot what appeared to be a 2-under 69 in the second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic. At 7 under overall, he was on the first page of the leaderboard. And then he wasn’t. While sorting through his bag in search of golf balls to sign and give away after signing his card, Henley realized he had inadvertently used a different type of Titleist Pro V1x during the round, violating the PGA TOUR’s One Ball Rule. Related: Leaderboard | Tringale, Seiffert make back-to-back aces “It was a small dash, a different way it was marked that would have been easy to overlook,â€� said TOUR Rules Official Brad Fabel. “He came to us and said he didn’t know how it had gotten in his bag.â€� The eight Rules of Golf officials on site conferred for about an hour and a half and even brought in the USGA to weigh in on the matter. “We researched it pretty thoroughly,â€� Fabel said. There was no question, Henley said, that he’d used the ball. He gives balls he’s put into play to his caddie to mark accordingly, and the Pro V1x in question was marked as such. That left two questions: Where had this single, differently marked ball come from (just to satisfy his curiosity) and for how many holes had he used it, i.e. how many penalty strokes would he take? Where it came from would have to wait, but ultimately, Henley decided he’d used it on holes 9, 10, 11 and 12, costing himself two shots per hole. He had made par on all four holes, but now four straight double bogeys would turn his 69 into a 77, leaving him outside the cut line. The mix-up ends Henley’s made cuts streak at eight, including the last four starts of last season and the first four of this season. He took the news well. “He was great,â€� Fabel said. “I’ve got a ton of respect for that gentleman.â€� Here is the USGA’s explanation: “When changing balls, the player is permitted to substitute a ball of another brand or type unless the Committee has adopted the One Ball Condition of Competition (see Appendix I; Part C; Section 1c). This optional condition (usually referred to as ‘The One Ball Rule’) is generally adopted only in events that are limited to professional golfers or highly-skilled amateur golfers. Generally, this condition of competition is not adopted in club-level competitions.”

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