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Jordan Spieth uses 'lucky' bounce off fan's knee to move inside cutline at The Players Championship

After hitting a drive off a fan's knee, Jordan Spieth chipped in for eagle to end his round Friday at TPC Sawgrass

ryan young
Staff writer
·3 min read
33

Jordan Spieth owes quite a bit to one unlucky fan at The Players Championship.

Spieth pushed his drive wide right on the ninth hole at TPC Sawgrass, his final one of the day, in the second round of the tournament Friday. Sitting at 2-over, Spieth was a shot outside the projected cutline, and his tee shot was headed for the water.

Spieth’s ball ended up in the fairway after it hit a fan’s knee and bounced back into play. The fan doubled over in pain but was fine and ended up getting a signed glove.

Spieth then landed his approach shot just short of the green before he chipped in for eagle, which brought him to even par for the week and inside the cutline.

“I mean, it's the equivalent of flying a green toward a hazard and hitting a grandstand and coming back on the green in a way,” Spieth said. “Needing to probably birdie to make the cut, I can't really birdie having to drop it over in the right rough over there after hitting my third. It would have been a one in a million make, instead I ended up making a 3. A lot of times I kind of feel bad about that and don't focus on the next shot, but I hit a 3-wood exactly where I wanted to and hit a chip exactly where I wanted to, so I'm very happy about rebounding from that.

“But yeah, I didn't see it, but when I struck it, I was like, that's out of play … I don't know what it can hit off of over there except for a person.”

Jordan Spieth
Thanks to an "extremely lucky break," Jordan Spieth will almost certainly be playing this weekend at The Players Championship. (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Spieth, despite opening with back-to-back birdies, posted a 3-over 75 Friday. He made two double-bogeys in his round and sat eight shots behind leaders Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Adam Svensson when play was suspended for the day due to weather.

Spieth has 13 career wins on the PGA Tour, most recently at last year’s RBC Heritage, and he entered the week ranked No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

“I got an extremely lucky break on 9, or I wouldn't be playing the weekend,” Spieth said. “[I'm] trying to get that guy's information and see literally whatever he wants this weekend because everything from here on out is because it hit him.

“Yeah, very fortunate. Can't say I deserved it, but I tried to hold my attitude together and just keep on focusing trying one foot in front of the other. I don't know if that means I got rewarded for that or what, but overall I got very, very fortunate on 9.”