Rory McIlroy insisted he would play the rest of the Players Championship with a clear conscience after a rules controversy also involving Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland threatened to derail his opening round at Sawgrass. McIlroy recovered from the affair on the seventh hole, his 16th, to post 65.
McIlroy’s tee shot on the par four bounced off a bank and into a lake. The key to what happened next was whether the ball was thrown above or below the red danger line. McIlroy insisted he felt “comfortable” the ball landed above the line, allowing him to play his third shot within range of the green.
During an eight-minute discussion, Hovland cast mild doubt by insisting it was “pretty close.” Spieth waded in. He said: ‘Everyone I hear who has looked at it – and that’s not the point – says they are 100% sure it went below the red line. It’s what you think.”
After Spieth was questioned about who his witnesses were, a volunteer correctly pointed out that spectators on the other side of the fairway would find it impossible to determine where the ball landed. The available television footage shows the ball bouncing and McIlroy was clearly right, but the issue will inevitably continue. Spieth also appeared to question McIlroy about a drop when he found water on the 18th, the ninth of the group.
“If I feel like I’ve done something wrong, it will be on my conscience for the rest of the tournament,” McIlroy said. “I’m a big believer in karma and if you do something wrong, I feel like it will come back to bite you at some point. I clearly wasn’t trying to do anything wrong out there. I tried to play by the rules and do the right thing. I feel like I definitely did that with those two drops.
“I was convinced I saw it bounce above the red line, but then when someone comes in and says, ‘Well, someone didn’t think so,’ it just puts some doubt in your mind. It’s up to you to feel comfortable enough with your decision that you saw what you saw. I am comfortable. I think that’s the most important thing.”
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Spieth avoided post-round media duties by running from the scoring area to the Sawgrass clubhouse. Hovland, with only a slightly smaller fleet, also did not address the issue. McIlroy declined to castigate Spieth for his audible interventions.
“I think Jordan just wanted to make sure I did the right thing,” McIlroy said. “I was pretty sure my ball had passed where I dropped it. It’s so hard because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant. But I think, again, he just wanted to make sure I did the right thing.
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“I was certainly conservative with it. I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves and the field. I wouldn’t say it was unnecessary. I think he just wanted to make sure what was happening was the right thing.”
McIlroy’s 10 birdies left him sharing the early lead with Xander Schauffele.