Jordan Spieth is playing for charity at this week’s Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational, but the golf gods weren’t in a giving mood on Friday (AEST).
The three-time Major champ appeared to make a hole-in-one while playing alongside Tony Romo during the Dallas-area event to raise money for the out-of-work caddies at Maridoe Golf Club, one of Romo’s home courses. Instead, his golf ball bounced off a spacer inside the cup on the par-3 17th and into a water hazard. Ouch.
According to those who witnessed this freakish event, Romo said he’d let Spieth count it as an ace – just not in their match. There are limits to being a good sport after all.
Spieth wasn’t competing in the 54-hole event and was playing with Romo in the final round as a marker. Here’s another look at Spieth’s scuffed ball:
Speith with an Ace or Double Bogey on 17? It sunk in the hole, bounced out (we believe 100% because of the spacer – see scuff marks on new ball) and rolled back in the water. Romo decided it could be counted as a hole in one, except for their bet. pic.twitter.com/NTHzWnXWlt
— Ryan Frazer (@AgoraGolf) April 30, 2020
“It never left the stick and I knew it was going to land somewhere around the hole and sure enough it landed in the hole,” Spieth told Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine. It just didn’t stay there.
Many golf courses have made adjustments to help prevent the spread of germs during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, including inserting spacers often made from foam into holes so golfers don’t have to reach their hands all the way into the cup to retrieve their golf balls. As a result, a new phrase, getting “foamed,” has entered the golf vernacular. Although, Spieth is still adding it his ace total.
“I’m going to count it,” Spieth added. “It was one of those ones where it would most likely have stayed in.”
Considering Spieth was playing for charity – and the fact he’s mired in a well-documented winless streak that’s approaching three years – we’re inclined to let it stand also.