J.J. Spaun might be pleased with himself for coming runner up in The Players Championship but as predicted by many, the issue of his free drop prior to going to a playoff with Rory McIlroy continues to rear its head.
Spaun was given a drop in the rough near a sprinkler outlet and then proceeded to use his relief to drop his ball on a second sprinkler, resulting in him getting more relief and ending up in the fairway.
At the time, Spaun and the PGA Tour were slammed by fans who questioned the validity of the ruling.
However, explaining why he did it, Spaun has now revealed that the rules official was effectively hinting to him to do it.
J.J. Spaun reveals conversation with rules official at The Players Championship
Spaun has been speaking on the ForePlay Podcast and was covering a host of questions about his appearance at TPC Sawgrass.
Naturally, things got onto the drop he took and Spaun used his time explain that actually, the rules official himself was suggesting he did the double drop.
“We can go back to this whole drop thing for me too. The ref was right there and he basically told me to drop it in the sprinkler! He was like this is your relief zone. I said can I drop it in the sprinkler and get relief from that? He said that is in the relief zone so if you drop it in there, you would get relief again. You can’t give advice but he was like [encouraging it],” Spaun explained.
“So it ended up like everyone being you’re cheating, I was like I am not. You can definitely relate it to just a bounce. You can get great bounces, lucky bounces, s—- bounces. Jordan, what was that, three years ago? Hits it right in the water on nine on Friday he has to make birdie or eagle to make the cut. Smokes a dude in the head, bounces in the fairway and makes eagle.
“But JJ Spaun has nobody following him, that ball is going straight in the water. That is just what happens!”
What PGA Tour players said about J.J. Spaun’s drop at The Players
While golf fans might have been raging about the incident, the players themselves have not actually mentioned it and Rory McIlroy, for one, has not even touched on it.
Similarly, when it happened, a few big names stood their ground on backing Spaun’s antics.
Michael Kim backed Spaun for doing so, while another big name in Phil Mickelson also backed Spaun for taking advantage of the rules.
It seems, then, that Spaun simply used rules to help him and come the end, it mattered little anyway as McIlroy blew him away in the eventual playoff.
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