A volunteer put a shadow near his ball.
A child, about 50 yards ahead, crawled under the ropes — only for a man to drag the child back by their leg.
Another child, this one within earshot, asked a question:
“Jordan, are you going to try something stupid here?”
Then Jordan Spieth swung.
Spieth, during Friday’s second round of the Valero Texas Open, had hit his tee shot right and just to the left of a cart path on the 442-yard, par-4 10th hole at TPC San Antonio. To the right of the path were a string of fans, who have recently been allowed back to tournaments. Spieth, after debating whether to take a drop and checking his yardages, stood over his ball.
He’d wait 20 more seconds to hit.
First, a marshal raised her arms to silence the gallery.
“Could you please put your hands down,” Spieth said. “Sorry. Thank you for the help.”
Then, about 50 yards ahead, a man, presumably a parent (?), pulled a child by their leg after the young fan waded into the rough.
“That kid getting dragged off,” Spieth said to laughs.
Finally, seconds before Spieth hit, another kid either tried to needle Spieth or reassure him. The “try something stupid” referernce could have been referring to Spieth saying that to himself before hitting a hero shot from the trees during the 2017 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.
Spieth hit his shot just off the green, about 19 feet from the hole, and he’d make his par.
“It’s a fine shot,” analyst Curt Byrum said during Golf Channel’s broadcast. “Turn around and look at the kid now and say did that look stupid to you?
“Spieth is so engaging that it doesn’t really matter what the moment is,” announcer Dan Hicks said. “He’s in this intense spot where he’s having fun with the fans and the kid takes it a little too far and he goes, well, you’re about to see me get out of trouble.”
