PGA TOUR Fans are LIVID with This Player for Exploiting the Rules

PGA TOUR fans are at a weird crossroads when it comes to JJ Spaun and his exploitation of the rules, which eventually led to him making a playoff for THE PLAYERS against Rory McIlroy.

Some are calling the move “scummy” and “unsportsmanlike.” However, it was a classic example of knowing the rules and using them to your advantage.

Spaun hit his tee shot on the Par 5 9th hole on Sunday, which shot into the rough. His lie was awful, but he noticed a sprinkler was interfering with his stance, which gave him free relief.

However, it did not stop there. Spaun’s initial drop also landed on a sprinkler head, which ended up giving him the opportunity to take yet another drop and have his second club length from the second sprinkler.

This took his ball from an unfavorable lie in the rough to the fairway:

Fans were less than enthusiastic about his two drops, which led to a great lie in the fairway:

Yeah this is a scum move on Spaun… legal but frowned upon as it should be

— Jules Napoli (@JDDEGEN) March 16, 2025

Hope Spaun hits a couple balls in the water tomorrow morning. Standing on a sprinkler, takes relief on the same sprinkler, takes relief again in the fairway. This is outright cheating. https://t.co/Yqf3mUVzac

— Garrett Holaday (@garholaday) March 17, 2025

Really really hate that the Players has to go to a playoff today because Spaun pretty much cheated on his drop on the 9th hole. “Used the rules of golf to his advantage” my ass, his ball went from deep rough to the fairway.

Cheating. I will die on this hill.

— Stephen Dean (@dean_burner) March 17, 2025

While Spaun absolutely stretched the rules and leveraged the language in the regulations to his advantage, we would be absolutely insane to believe that every player in the field would not also do this if they knew to do so. Every single player in the field of every professional golf tournament at this level would do anything possible to improve their lie within the rules. 

Is it questionable? Yeah, sure. But it was legal, and it was perfectly within his scope of the rules to do what he did and get the advantage he had.

Cover Image via The Mirror