The 50th edition of The Players Championship got underway on Thursday with some of the biggest names participating in it. With a $4.5 million prize cheque on the line, there was bound to be some controversy in one of the rounds. However, very few expected it to take place in the first round itself with Rory McIlroy being the center figure.
Rory McIlroy was paired up with Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland in a marquee group. The North Irishman started off strong and left both of them in the dust. A play on the 7th hole though turned out to be the biggest talking point on Thursday.
The current World No.2 started this hole while being eight-under. His tee shot though bounced on the slope and ended up in pool, resulting in McIlroy taking a drop. His spot of dropping the ball became the issue here as both Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland started to discuss this.
This development brought out a long conversation between the golfers and the rules official. After the round, the 34-year-old claimed he was being “conservative” with it and claimed Spieth was just making sure he was doing the right thing.
I was pretty sure that my ball had crossed where I was sort of dropping it. It’s so hard, right, because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant... If anything, I was being conservative with it. Rory McIlroy on his two drops as per Golf.com.
Recently McIlroy had taken a wrong ball-drop at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am which saw him being handed a two-stroke penalty. So this is something he avoided this time.
Rory McIlroy denies any wrongdoing at the 7th hole
As soon as the clip of Rory McIlroy’s 7th hole fiasco went viral, people threw in mixed reactions. While some claimed he did the right thing, there were some who also accused him of cheating. The golfer though has denied any wrongdoing while pointing he is a big believer of “karma“.
While continuing to speak on the matter, McIlroy said:
I’m a big believer in karma and, if you do something wrong, I feel like it’s going to come around and bite you at some point...I obviously didn’t try to do anything wrong out there. Rory McIlroy on his drop ball controversy.
After the round, Golf Channel analysts including Brandel Chamblee sided with McIlroy on this one. Johnson Wagner would later break down the tee shot and explained the rules which created the controversy in the first place.
Despite this slip up, McIlroy was pretty much locked in on the day. He would card ten birdies, the most by a player in a single round at TPC Sawgrass and finish the day with a score of 7-under 65.
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