PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Jordan Spieth was not planning to get involved in the discussion on the 7th hole Thursday at the Players Championship when he saw Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland discussing McIlroy’s drop.
But he did.
And said Friday maybe he shouldn’t have.
“It was like Viktor was having the conversation, and I only walked over because it seemed like, ‘Hey, let’s just make sure everything is all right,’” said Spieth, who spoke for the first time about the controversy after declining to speak following Thursday’s opening round.
“I wasn’t even planning on getting involved and maybe shouldn’t have. But it seemed like they were maybe at a sticking point. So I thought maybe I could help.”
McIlroy hit two balls into the water Thursday at No. 18 and 7, but it was his second at the seventh hole that lead to a heated exchange between McIlroy and Spieth. The confusion on No. 7 was whether McIlroy’s drive landed above or below the red line before bouncing into the water, which would have made a difference in where he dropped.
Rory said he was “pretty comfortable” that it landed above the line. Spieth wanted to be sure. That discussion was picked up by the television broadcast.
Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland discuss McIlroy’s drop on No. 7.
Rory makes double bogey to move from solo leader to T2. pic.twitter.com/dkV6a5Q22W
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2024
Friday, after Spieth shot a 74 and missed the cut with a two-round total 2-over par 146, he said he believed McIlroy’s drop was proper.
“I only walked over there because I thought he had dropped it, and then he was questioning where he was dropping it,” Spieth said. “So I was just trying to make sure he didn’t play it and everyone was good.
“I was good with the spot he was choosing. Then I was just listening to the conversation of Rory and Viktor, and Rory had said … ‘we think it crossed up there, could have been back there, so this seems like somewhere in between.’ That sounds like something you probably should verify with a rules official, and then he did. And it was all good.”
McIlroy, who shot a 73 Friday and is 6 under entering the weekend, appeared aggravated when Spieth said everyone he heard talking who saw the shot said they were “100 percent certain it landed below the line.”
Spieth said Friday he only said that to McIlroy in case the landing spot was caught by television cameras and the drop was where it should have been.
“I told him when we walked off the tee that they had said that, and I said ‘I couldn’t tell because I thought it was going to land so much further that it surprised me where it dropped,’” Spieth said. “So I thought it was important to say that honestly. Because of that, I was like, ‘Why don’t you just make sure in case they caught it.’”
Spieth said conversations like the one he, McIlroy and Hovland had Thursday were played out several times on the Stadium Course the last two days.
“I think all anybody wants is for you to put the ball where it should go, and in our sport … especially on a golf course like this or last week, you get some situations where it can be really tricky on knowing for sure,” Spieth said. “You normally err on the safe side and then you pick where you’re virtually certain where it did cross, and I think that’s what Rory chose both times.”
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