Jordan Spieth makes robust defence when questioned about possible rules violation
World number three Jordan Spieth was surprised to face questions about a possible rules violation after a second round of 67 in the US PGA Championship.
Spieth carded five birdies and two bogeys at Baltusrol, the last of which came after a wild drive which finished in casual water on a cart path and resulted in a 10-minute discussion with rules official Brad Gregory before taking a drop.
The 23-year-old's foot still appeared to be in a puddle when he hit eventually the ball, meaning he had not taken full relief under the rules, but he said: ''I would have never hit if I was not told it was okay by a rules official. He told me it was fine.
''I decided to take relief from the casual water, which I didn't do correctly the first couple of drops. I ended up still standing in it. Finally, on the last one, it went into a location more straight back in line with the hole where I could then have a stance in line with the hole that would not be in casual water.
''I then altered my stance to play a different shot than what I would have played had it been on the original angle of my drops. Because of that, he (Gregory) said we were following the correct rules and we were taking relief.
''I don't think there's any problem with it. If there happens to be then that's not on me. I literally asked every question I could ask and I got every answer I could be to be content.''
The PGA of America later sent out an explanation for why Spieth did not receive a penalty, under Decision 20-2c/0.8.
The statement read: "Once the ball was dropped and in play Jordan had the option to select another type of stroke or another type of club to actually play the shot and he chose to play a stroke to the right of a tree in an attempt to try to hook the ball toward the green.
"Jordan was entitled to either play the ball as it lay, even if his stance was still in the casual water, or he could have elected to take relief again from the casual water under this different type of stroke that he then elected to play."
At the Abu Dhabi Championship in 2014, Rory McIlroy was penalised two shots for failing to take full relief from a spectator crossing on the second hole of his third round.
Before signing his card, McIlroy was told of the possible infraction by Dave Renwick, caddie to his playing partner Ricardo Gonzalez.
When video evidence proved inconclusive, McIlroy and European Tour chief referee John Paramor headed back to the par five to examine the area in question and it was determined that McIlroy's left foot had been touching the white line denoting the crossing.
''There are a lot of stupid rules in golf and this is one of them," said McIlroy, who went on to finish a shot behind the winner Pablo Larrazabal.
