Genesis Invitational
Emergency bathroom situation may have played a role in Jordan Spieth's scorecard error
Harry How
LOS ANGELES — When you've got to go, you've got to go, and Jordan Spieth really had to go.
That is, at least according to Xander Schauffele, who vaulted up the leader board on Saturday at the Genesis Invitational with a six-under 65. While speaking to the media afterward, Schauffele revealed that there was a legitimate reason Spieth signed an incorrect scorecard, which led to his disqualification. It was a bathroom emergency.
"He was really sick and he had a rough last hole," Schauffele said. "I can see how it all went down."
Spieth did make a double-bogey 6 at the last, which undoubtedly also factored into the scorecard oversight. He would not be the first player in golf history to come off the course a little hot and want to leave as soon as humanly possible. But, as Schauffele explained, there was a little more to it than that.
"I heard he had to go to the restroom and came back like a minute later and the card was wrong," Schauffele said. "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."
Schauffele did go on to say that keeping your own score is part of the tradition of the game, but nobody wanted Spieth to not be around for the weekend at Riviera. Just a bad rules break at a bad time.
"I know Jordan, it's really unfortunate," he said. "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."