J.J. Spaun was playing his way out of conention at TPC Sawgrass. Then he got an all-time Rules of Golf break

JJ. Spaun held a share of the lead at 11 under as he made his way to the back nine on Sunday at the Players Championship. Mind you, there remains a lot of golf left if the 34-year-old PGA Tour journeyman wants to upset Rory McIlroy and win the biggest title of his career at TPC Sawgrass, whenever the tournament might finish. But there was a time on the ninth hole during the final round where Spaun could have played his way out of the tournament, only to figure out a way to use the Rules of Golf to his advantage and keep him momentum going.

Here’s how it played out: Spaun was trying to hit a layup with his approach shot on the 592-yard par 5, but saw the ball fade toward the thick rough. It took a hop and then settled down, eventually disappearing in the long grass.

“A horrible lie,” was how Jim (Bones) Mackay described what Spaun was left during NBC’s final-round broadcast, Spaun still 45 yards from the hole with his third shot.

Here’s a picture of the ball hopping right before it nestles into the rough.

However, you might be able to see in the picture a sprinkler head near Spaun’s ball. As it turned out, Spaun’s feet were touching that sprinkler head, which is defined as an immovable obstruction. That allowed Spaun to take free relief under Rule 16.1. So Spaun found his nearest point of full relief, and then measured out one club-length from there to create his drop zone, his ball still set to land in the thick rough.

Yet as luck would have it, there was a second sprinkler head within his relief area. Given this, Spaun dropped his ball, according to Mackay on the sprinkler head. When it came to rest there, Spaun was then entitled to free relief once more. And this time, when he followed the procedures under the Rules, it allowed him to be able to take a drop in the fairway rather than the rough.

“He intentionally dropped it in the sprinkler, got himself a second club-length away from that and got into the fairway,” was how Mackay described it on the broadcast.

Just to be clear: What Spaun did was all by the book according to Rule 16.1. It’s one of the quirks of the Rules, and something players can wisely use to their advantage under just such circumstances.