PONTE VEDRA BEACH — The moments in an interview room don’t get much more surreal than they were on Monday morning in the media center at the Players Championship. As a fully composed and engaging J.J. Spaun processed his three-hole aggregate playoff loss to Rory McIlroy, something caught his eye. On the screen at the back of the room, Golf Channel was replaying Spaun’s fateful 8-iron shot at TPC Sawgrass’ island 17th that flew the green into the water and led to a triple-bogey 6.
Those three strokes ended up being the difference between a career-defining victory for Spaun and the awkward offers of consolation on his otherwise excellent week.
“Can I watch it? I haven’t seen it,” Spaun said, stopping himself in the middle of an answer to watch his shot.
“Look how high it is. It’s floating,” he offered in a strange bit of commentary. “I almost wanted to say ‘get up’ because it just looked like it was going to be short.” Turning back to his audience, Spaun added, “Anyways, I was stunned. I couldn’t believe it was long.”
Rory McIlroy celebrates while J.J. Spaun shakes hands with McIlroy’s caddie, Harry Diamond.
Richard Heathcote
There are few things that Spaun would take back from what has to be considered a career-best performance, even if he has a single tour win in the Valero Texas Open. Maybe his putt on the 72nd hole on Sunday evening, when his ball came up about two rolls short of victory on a birdie try.
Spaun definitely was not backing off his choice of choosing to hit an 8-iron to what he judged was 136 yards in the tricky winds after watching McIlroy flight a 9-iron to the safe back-third of the green.
“I was never thinking anything other than 8-iron,” Spaun said. “We were warming up on the TrackMan this morning in a similar direction and getting kind of dialed in with what kind of shot I’d have to hit to fight the wind and carry the number that we were needing. It was just kind of like a nice chip 8-iron.
“Pulled an 8-iron, and even after Rory hit 9, he’s easily a club longer than me. I don’t know if I flighted it too well, but it just went through the wind. I couldn’t even tell where it was going to be. I didn’t know what to tell it, like sit, go. If anything, I was leaning more towards go.
“But it was a great shot. It was probably six, seven feet left of the pin, just perfect if it was the right distance. I couldn’t believe it was long. It just wasn’t my luck of the gust, I guess.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
