Spieth on D.J.'s Open penalty: 'I would have thrown a fit'

Jordan Spieth admits he wouldn’t have been as outwardly calm as Dustin Johnson was during the final seven holes of the U.S. Open.

Spieth was among the many pros who joined a Twitter mosh pit in reaction to the USGA’s decision to notify Johnson on Oakmont’s 12th tee in the final round that he could potentially face a penalty stroke — or maybe not — because his ball moved on the fifth green as he was preparing to putt for par. Not only was Spieth not happy that officials didn’t give Johnson a clear indication of their ruling, when it was clear from TV interviews that a penalty was forthcoming, but the 2015 U.S. Open winner was unhappy that Johnson was even under review for potentially causing the ball to move in the first place.

Ahead of this week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Spieth said he would have handled the situation differently than D.J.

“I promise you, I would have thrown a fit,” Spieth said Tuesday. “I wouldn’t have hit another shot. I would have sat there like, ‘This is not the way this goes. Let’s figure this out right now.'”

Several other USGA critics — professional golfers or not — have suggested the same thing. The USGA apologized the day after the Open for this specific aspect of their ruling, saying they shouldn’t have held that doubt over Johnson’s head, as well the other contending players. The governing body stands by their ruling based on the wording of Rule 18-2, the rule in question. However, there seems to be growing momentum to further change that rule, which was updated for 2016, to eliminate any ambiguity and the “more likely than not”, civil trial-style standard for determining guilt or innocence.

In the end, Johnson didn’t seem to care about the debacle all that much. He won, and he finally got his major. Before Johnson had even holed that final birdie putt to shoot the 68-turned-69 that clinched the Open, Spieth peeled off a text message to the guy that could well have beaten him at Chambers Bay last year.

“I won’t tell you what was in that text for a couple reasons, but, one, I shouldn’t say it, and two, it’s personal,” Spieth said. “But I thought it was extremely special given everything that’s been hanging over him. That wasn’t easy, and he stepped up.”