J.J. Spaun purposely drops golf ball on a sprinkler head to get relief at Players Championship

J.J. Spaun got off to a rocky start in the final round of the 2025 Players Championship, making two bogeys and no birdies through his opening eight holes.

But his fortunes changed on the par-5 ninth, and it helped the third-rounder leader move back into a tie atop the leaderboard moving to the back nine.

His second shot came up well short of the green and in the rough. But he took his third shot from the fairway and spun it to 6 feet, 8 inches. As NBC Sports’ Jim “Bones” Mackay explained on the broadcast, it was the result of a fortunate drop.

When Spaun got to his ball in the rough, he was standing on the sprinkler head. Then when he took relief from the first sprinkler head, there was another one, and Mackay said Spaun purposely dropped it on that one, which entitled him to more relief. After two drops, he was in the fairway.

Two shots later, he was tied with Rory McIlroy heading to the back nine.

The drop drew the ire of many golf fans on social media, questioning its validity. The NBC broadcast never showed the drop, sticking to Mackay’s explanation. However, there is nothing Spaun did that is against the Rules of Golf, moreover he used them to his advantage for a fortunate drop and birdie.

For live updates from the final round, click here.