Some advice. Some self-deprecation. With seven words typed in on social media, Jordan Spieth did not miss.
Of course, just two days earlier, he had whiffed, though that just added to what was to come.
Playing the Genesis Invitational last week at Riviera Country Club in L.A., Spieth had been contending. On Thursday, he opened with a five-under 66. On Friday, during the second round, he was even-par for the day until an ugly double bogey on the 18th hole. But he was done for the day.
A short while later, though, he learned he was done for the tournament.
During his second round, on the 245-yard, par-3 4th, Spieth had hit his tee shot just left of the green, hit on to 4 feet and two-putted for a bogey four. It was about here where things started to unravel. According to CBS announcer Jim Nantz, Spieth’s playing partner, Tom Kim, had marked Spieth down for a par three, which, while not ideal, was OK, but Spieth needed to correct it.
He didn’t. He signed his scorecard after the round. He left the scoring area.
It forced a disqualification. Spieth was told in the players locker room, according to rules official Mark Dusbabek, via CBS’ broadcast. Most of the rest of the world was informed just after 5 p.m. local time, through a short post from the PGA Tour Communications account. It read:
“Jordan Spieth has been disqualified from The Genesis Invitational for signing for an incorrect scorecard. Spieth signed for a 3 and made a 4 on No. 4.”
Unfortunate? Yes. Is it a good rule? Is it a bad rule? After the news broke, folks weighed in. Fans. Players. On Saturday, Xander Schauffele called what happened unfortunate.
“Yeah, it’s part of the tradition of the game,” he said. “I mean, Jordan, he knows, he knows what happened. He was really sick and he had a rough last hole and I can see how it all went down. I heard he had to go kind of ask some questions around the — I heard he had to go to the restroom and came back like a minute later and the card was wrong. Maybe there needs to be some sort of softening on the rules, but for the most part, we all kind of know what goes on in there. It’s really unfortunate it happened.”
On Friday night, Spieth himself weighed in, through another social media post. He wrote:
“Today, I signed for an incorrect scorecard and stepped out of the scoring area, after thinking I went through all procedures to make sure it was correct. Rules are rules, and I take full responsibility. I love this tournament and golf course as much as any on @PGATOUR so it hurts to not have a run at the weekend. Really appreciated the support in LA @thegenesisinv @thegenesisinv”
From there, the tournament played on. Patrick Cantlay led after 54 holes. In the final round, Hideki Matsuyama went berserk, shooting a nine-birdie, no-bogey 62 to win by three shots. He missed the Riviera course record by a shot, but it was about the only thing he missed.
