When it comes to sportsmanship, no other kind of sport comes to mind first than golf. It has always been upheld as a classy competition of accuracy and finesse. However, one play during the Players Championship called this notion into question, as one of the players used a loophole in the rules to gain an advantage that resulted in a playoff.
JJ Spaun, an American pro golfer, partook in the championship for the title and found himself in a tight spot during the game. His golf ball found itself on a sprinkler in the rough, which by the rules, enabled him to move his ball away a golf club’s length. However, this still put Spaun in a terrible position and would definitely affect his chances of catching up with Rory Mcllroy. That is when he noticed another sprinkler nearby and decided to drop his ball directly over it to gain another relief. This allowed him to move his ball once again and gave him an easy way back onto the fairway. This ended up saving his game, but not without some conflicted thoughts on the tactic.
Some might think that what he did was unethical, but it was legal according to the rules and he simply used that to get out of a bad situation. When the stakes are this high, it’s difficult to condemn Spaun for using this loophole. On the other hand, this move might have cost him a bit of his reputation with fans and pros alike, so this trick won’t be worth it in the long run. Mcllory ended up winning the playoff against Spaun, but even if Spaun won, his victory would have been bittered with the speculation that it was unearned. Overall, it might do some good to rework the rules for the next championship to remove this loophole entirely.
