Xander Schauffele has come out in defense of his Ryder Cup teammate Jordan Spieth who was disqualified from the Genesis Invitational after signing an incorrect scorecard. He signed a 1 over 72 scorecard but as he shot a bogey on the 14th hole, he should have signed a 2 over 73 scorecard.
Schauffele, who is currently ranked joint second at Riviera, suggested for softening of golf rules. He revealed that Spieth had to go for an emergency bathroom break soon after the latter completed his second round. The seven-time PGA Tour champ added that his Ryder Cup teammate was “really sick” and before he could have corrected his scorecard, he had to rush to the bathroom.
Jordan Spieth shot a blistering round of 5 under 66 in the opening round of the Genesis. Despite shooting a 2 over par 73 on Friday, he would have made the cut. But the three-time major champ was disqualified as he was found to have signed an incorrect scorecard.
Xander Schauffele Calls For Prominent Golf Rules Change After Jordan Spieth Incident
Dan Rapaport shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) in which Xander Schauffele was speaking in his post-round interview at the Genesis Invitational. The 30-year-old American stated that signing the scorecard is an old tradition of golf. But in the case of Jordan Spieth, the golfer knew that he was “really sick” and had to rush to the restroom and come back in a moment.
“[Marking your card] is part of the tradition of the game. I mean, Jordan, he knows, he knows what happened. He was really sick and he had a rough last hole and I can see how it all went down. I heard he had to go kind of ask some questions around the — I heard he had to go to the restroom and came back like a minute later and the card was wrong,” Schauffele said.
Xander Schauffele said Jordan Spieth was sick, had to go the bathroom immediately after finishing yesterday, came back a minute later and was DQ’d. Suggested the Tour changes the penalty for that. pic.twitter.com/eyRJIKGtQa
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) February 17, 2024
Xander Schauffele added that Jordan Spieth accepted his fault by taking full responsibility of the happening. But the seven-time PGA Tour champ felt that there should be a “softening of the rules” in the game of golf. He said Spieth’s silly mistake could have been ignored.
“Maybe there needs to be some sort of softening on the rules, but for the most part we all kind of know what goes on in there. It’s really unfortunate it happened. I know Jordan, it’s really unfortunate. This is a tournament people — he’s a big pull for us, he’s a top-three pull for us on Tour, so it’s not good that he’s not here,” Schauffele added.
Although Jordan Spieth is out of the signature event, Schauffele is still playing and is headed into the final round. The 30-year-old American is trailing by two strokes against the solo leader Patrick Cantlay. The seven-time PGA Tour champ would hope to surpass his 2023 Ryder Cup match partner and win his eighth title on Sunday.
