After his second shot on the eighth hole, during Day 3 of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Jordan Spieth’s Titleist golf ball was sitting inside the red hazard line, inches away from a 68-foot drop off.
Spieth had a choice: take a drop, and a one-stroke penalty or hit the ball and try to save par.
Michael Greller, Spieth’s longtime caddie, pleaded with his boss to take a drop. Spieth listened but ignored the advice. He took out a 7-iron, balanced himself, and hit the scariest shot of his life.
He also made par.
“I didn’t realize the severity until I got up to it,” Spieth said, during a post-round press conference. “As I walked up to it I felt myself like I was walking and then I started walking like this (leaning back), you know like falling back walking, just to get to the edge.
“And then it was like — it’s so weird because if you can normally see the ball, like I never had a situation where you can see a ball, get a swing on it, but you’re not going to play it. So it was just kind of weird because it was like, ‘Well if I can get a swing on it and I can hit it then why would I take a drop?’
“Like just whenever, you’re never over, I guess I saw a 65-foot cliff. So it’s an unusual situation, normally if you’re walking into a hazard, you see a ball, you hit it out.”
Spieth continued: “I just saw the blimp shot from overhead and it really bothered me. So I can’t imagine while she [his wife] was watching that live.
“They actually came out, my son was out for the first time ever on 3 and 4 and I don’t know where they went from there. And I don’t know if they were over off the AT&T hospitality or anything.
“So, yeah, I mean, my parents are here too, so not only do I have to explain to my wife, I got to explain to my mom, my dad.”
