At the seventh hole (par 4) in the first round of the PGA Tour’s The Players Championship (total prize money of 25 million U.S. dollars) held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Tuesday (local time). He dropped his tee shot into the water. The problem was where he needed to take a penalty and drop. McIlroy said the ball fell behind the red line and claimed that he would take a penalty and drop it before playing.

However, Jordan Spieth of the U.S. and Victor Hovlan of Norway had different ideas. When Spieth said, “Everyone says that the ball fell into the water after failing to reach the line,” McIlroy even argued back, asking who the ball was. It was hard to see where it bounced and was not captured on TV. Players even called a referee, but there was no help as no witnesses appeared.

McIlroy said he was confident that his ball had crossed the red line. Instead of returning to the tee box, McIlroy made his third shot near the water hazard, and eventually made a double bogey to pull out the seventh hole. It took him 30 minutes to pull out the seventh hole due to disagreements among players over the drop position. He tied for the lead by swinging a 7-under 65 in the first round.

McIlroy told the PGA Tour after the game, “I had an argument with Spieth, my companion player. He just wanted to make sure I was doing it right.” “It would have been better if I played 62 without dropping the ball in the water twice, but I played by the rules today,” McIlroy said.

BY: 스포츠토토