JJ Spaun took advantage of some controversial rules to give himself a significant advantage during the final round of The Players Championship on Sunday.
Spaun was the 54-hole leader with a score of 12-under after three rounds at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He fell back to third place with two bogeys through his first eight holes on Sunday, but he made a much-needed birdie on the par-5 9th hole. The score was made possible by a massive break.
After hitting the fairway with his drive, Spaun left his second shot in some extremely thick rough 45 yards short of the green. Spaun’s ball was not visible as it landed, which was an indication of how terrible the lie was. Or, should we say, would have been.
Spaun was standing on a sprinkler head when he addressed his third shot, which entitled him to free relief. He then intentionally took his drop on another nearby sprinkler head, so he was able to take relief from that as well.
When Spaun was finished taking all the relief he was entitled to, he wound up with a perfect lie in the fairway. You can see where his initial shot landed compared to where he was able to hit from:
here's video of where Spaun's ball landed on 9 and then a screenshot of where he played from. pic.twitter.com/0lEmWkpNg2
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterNS) March 16, 2025
Many fans were frustrated by the sequence. Some noted how Spaun was able to finagle a fairway drop in that situation, but a ball that lands in a divot in the middle of a fairway must be played as it lies.
Like it or not, what Spaun did was perfectly legal. The birdie allowed him to move back into a tie for first place not long before the final round was temporarily suspended due to inclement weather.
