Jordan Spieth nearly created another rules controversy in his bizarre second round
Jordan Spieth made a strong push up the leaderboard at the PGA Championship on Friday, firing a second-round 67 to put him two shots off the lead at the time of finishing his round. Spieth later fell to four back of the leader Emiliano Grillo, but it's no deficit he can't make up on the weekend.
For as solid as Spieth's day was, it was also one filled with unforeseen situations. On the 18th hole, his ninth of the day, his tee shot hit a spectator and wound up next to a person's chair.
Jordan should just play it from here, as it lies: pic.twitter.com/BcGROQ6Cqe
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) July 29, 2016
Spieth promptly apologized to the fan and gifted them a signed golf ball.
Get hit by a @JordanSpieth drive ➡️ Get a signed Spieth golf ball ✒️ https://t.co/sHVedd8wmN
— PGA.COM (@PGAcom) July 29, 2016
Later in the round, on the seventh hole, Spieth found himself in another difficult situation. This one took much longer to sort out. His ball landed in a puddle on the cart path, which warranted him relief due to standing water. It took a few drops and induced a handful of laughs from himself and the crowd as the ruling took seemingly forever to complete.
'Maybe' ? https://t.co/yTeCHwSF8c
— PGA.COM (@PGAcom) July 29, 2016
Eventually, Spieth would hit his shot with his toe hanging over the puddle he was required to take complete relief from. This led some to believe he could be in line for another controversial ruling, similar to Dustin Johnson's at the U.S. Open.
However, due to the fact that his foot wasn't actually in the water, Spieth was cleared of any wrongdoing.
"The margin for casual water is different than for out of bounds. If his foot is just hanging over the puddle, he has complete relief," one official said. "I didn't see any ripples."
Soooooo...this just happened with @JordanSpieth. #PGAChamp https://t.co/48L7WHwYYg
— PGA.COM (@PGAcom) July 29, 2016
Spieth made sure to get the green light before hitting his shot, ensuring he'd avoid any penalty later.
"I would have never hit it if I was not told it was OK by a rules official," Spieth said via Golf Digest. "He told me it was fine. Really don't know why we're talking about it to be honest."
Spieth made bogey on the hole, his only blemish on the front nine. The biggest takeaway from all of this is that a rule controversy was avoided, thankfully.
