Jordan Spieth was coming off a birdie in the first round of the WM Phoenix Open, but he pulled his tee shot into the gallery on the par-3 4th hole, his 13th of the day.
Only this shot was different, and there was confusion surrounding exactly what happened after Spieth hit it.
Here’s what the on-course reporter, via the ESPN+ stream, relayed: “The gentleman that it hit, he was sitting there right next to the ball. And Jordan Spieth walked over and he picked it up and gave it to him.”
You can see how that’s an issue at a professional golf tournament.
This all started after the broadcast returned from a commercial break and caught up with Spieth as he was laughing near where his shot had landed. That was followed by the crowd showering something, or someone, with boos.
An educated guess might be that Spieth was laughing due to the bizarre situation in which he had found himself, and especially if the spectator did in fact hand Spieth the ball. The on-course reporter said the boos were in the direction of the fan.
“He wanted to give it to Jordan,” the reporter joked, “so that makes things a little tricky.”
Spieth told his playing partners to play on as he waited for a rules official to help sort it out. Then he started chatting with the spectator, trying to figure out exactly what happened and where to take his drop.
“I was sitting here, and it landed in my hand,” the fan told Spieth.
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“So you caught it?” Spieth said. Yes, said the fan.
“Then someone yelled to drop it, so I threw it [intelligible],” the fan said, motioning in front of him. (So did the fan eventually pick up the ball and hand it to Spieth, too, as reported on the broadcast? That part is still unclear.)
When the rules official arrived, Spieth relayed what he had learned.
“So it landed on him, and then it stuck there and he had it in his hand,” Spieth said. “So I’m trying to figure out exactly where that was.”
After speaking more with the fan and figuring out exactly where he was sitting, Spieth dropped and chipped on.
“That fan thought he was coming to watch some golf and ended up being perhaps a part of an important ruling,” the reporter said.
Spieth, who was two under at the time, missed the par putt and made bogey to drop to one under. The fan? He got a glove from Spieth, plus a little conversation with the three-time major champ.
Spieth played the final five holes in one over to shoot an even-par 71. You can follow the first day of the WM Phoenix Open here.