Jordan Spieth confirms LIV report as he finally addresses Rory McIlroy dropgate

PGA Tour superstar Jordan Spieth has weighed in on the lengthy rules debate he had with Rory McIlroy at the Players Championship.

Ben Smith

16 Mar 2024

Jordan Spieth confirms LIV report as he finally addresses Rory McIlroy dropgate — Jordan Spieth confirms LIV report as he finally addresses Rory McIlroy…

Jordan Spieth has finally weighed in on the lengthy rules debate he had with Rory McIlroy after more than 24 hours of silence.

Spieth missed the cut at the Players Championship and likely did not want to discuss what happened with McIlroy.

However, he indulged a few reporters for a few minutes here at TPC Sawgrass.

And the American also confirmed a Golfweek report that several high-profile PGA Tour player directors will meet with PIF/LIV officials next week.

McIlroy and Spieth were involved in a lengthy debate during the opening round over where the Ulsterman's golf ball landed on the seventh hole.

The Northern Irishman believed his tee shot landed above the red hazard line next to the fairway bunker before going into the water.

Spieth and the third player in their group, Viktor Hovland, didn't appear so sure.

There was a similar debate over where McIlroy's ball entered the hazard on the 18th hole.

McIlroy later said his conscience was clear over how he handled both drops, despite coming in for a bit of criticism online.

For full context, here's the exchanges Spieth had with reporters:

Q. We didn't get a chance to ask you, but your version of what happened on the seventh hole yesterday from your point of view?

JORDAN SPIETH: I thought it ended up in a good spot. I only walked over there because I thought he had dropped it, and then he was questioning where he was dropping it.

So I was just trying to make sure he didn't play it and everyone was good. I was good with the spot he was choosing.

Then I was just listening to the conversation of Rory and Viktor, and Rory had said, I think it's -- we think it crossed up there, could have been back there, so this seems like somewhere in between.

But then that sounds like something you probably should verify with a rules official, and then he did, and it was all good.

Q. You said people had said to you the ball had bounced below the red line?

JORDAN SPIETH: Well, the thing is you're not really supposed to use anyone from the outside to say it, but I was hearing from like TV members, so I thought it was -- I told him when we walked off the tee that they had said that, and I said, I couldn't tell because I thought it was going to land so much further that it surprised me where it dropped, so I didn't actually see and it was close.

So I thought it was important to say that honestly so that he didn't -- they said it certainly hit above, Rory and Harry.

Because of that, I was like, why don't you just make sure in case they caught it.

A lot of times you have an overhead, but maybe not on Thursday and Friday.

Q. Did the 18th hole situation play into the seventh hole?

JORDAN SPIETH: I mean, every situation like that is their own. They're not like the same shots by any means.

Look, I think all anybody wants is for you to put the ball where it should go, and in our sport you just get -- especially on a golf course like this or last week, you get some situations where it can be really tricky on knowing for sure.

You normally err on the safe side and then you pick where you're virtually certain where it did cross, and I think that's what Rory chose both times.

Q. Certainly from Rory's point of view --

JORDAN SPIETH: Yeah, I don't know why I got brought over to media, to be honest.

Q. Just to be clear.

JORDAN SPIETH: But I get it's me and Rory, but that kind of conversation probably happened a dozen times yesterday in groups.

Again, it was like Viktor was having the conversation, and I only walked over because it seemed like, hey, let's just make sure everything is all right, which I wasn't even planning on getting involved and maybe shouldn't have, but it seemed like they were maybe at a sticking point.

So I thought maybe I could help.

Remind yourself of the moment here:

Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland discuss McIlroy's drop on No. 7.
Rory makes double bogey to move from solo leader to T2. pic.twitter.com/dkV6a5Q22W
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 14, 2024

Spieth confirms potential PIF meeting...

Golfweek had reported earlier on Friday that several high-profile players were being encouraged to meet with LIV's mastermind Yasir Al-Rumayyan next week.

Whilst he would not divulge a huge amount of detail of that meeting, Spieth did confirm it was likely happening.

"We are being encouraged to potentially meet with them at some point," he said.

He added: "I'm not sure that I can say much more other than we're being encouraged to potentially meet with them, but at the same time we probably feel like our membership should know timing and what could happen and just in general maybe it's just a meet -- I think there's not a whole lot more I can say about that, but we are being encouraged obviously which I think is probably a good thing that the entire board should if there's going to be any potential for a negotiation."

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