Jordan Spieth is known for his warm demeanor toward fans. He has previously sought help from spectators, and they happily obliged. But this time at the 2026 RBC Heritage, Spieth was rather miffed at fans who were a bit too eager to capture his conversation with a rules official. The frustration showed in his body language, and later in his actions as he kicked the ball.

On the 8th hole, Spieth’s 301-yard tee shot bounced on the pine straw and eventually ended up near the boundary fence. The ball was nestled right beneath the fence, and Spieth was unsure of whether it was still in play. Soon, he was mobbed by curious fans trying to capture the entire fiasco. Spieth, irritated by all the cameras and phones, snapped while trying to maintain his characteristic politeness.

“Can you all just do me a big favor and maybe just leave the phones off my face? Just for a like a couple of minutes would be awesome. Thank you. As you can imagine, you wouldn’t probably like that either right now,” the 32-year-old asked while walking impatiently and waiting for the rules official to arrive.

The official came and even brought a string to see the exact position of the ball with respect to the boundaries. After much back-and-forth, it was determined to be out of bounds. Jordan Spieth, at 2-under par that time, knew what it meant: a penalty and another tee shot. Visibly frustrated at his own blunder and the attention it generated among fans, Spieth kicked the ball, trying to shove it under the fence altogether.

The three-time major winner went back to the teeing zone and eventually escaped with a double bogey. While mobile phones have caused Rickie Fowler to yell at fans, Spieth’s frustration was more due to the fact that he was coming off two birdies on the 5th and 7th. Nevertheless, it was rare for him to let his anger out on the ball itself, as you can see in the video below. It might have been compounded by another fact, too.

Tackling tricky lies has almost become the norm for him. Just last week at the Masters, Spieth’s shot went behind the trees. The 32-year-old still saved par after a nifty recovery shot. A week prior, at the Valero Texas Open, he and his caddie had to move a boulder after an errant tee shot landed in the native area.

After that, Spieth discovered his ball was sitting next to a fire-ant hill. He used rule 16:2, which allows for free relief if a dangerous animal condition blocks the line of play. Spieth wasn’t that lucky this time, even though he might have hoped to get away like he had multiple times before.

Regardless, he recovered soon with a birdie in the ninth, followed by another one at the 11th. But by the end of the round, he was in the 27th spot with a score of 2-under 69. It certainly seems like he’s trying his best to bounce back into his A-game. But incidents like these put him down time and time again.

Can Jordan Spieth break his winless streak at the venue of his last triumph?

Jordan Spieth has shown signs of a revival this year, evidenced by his two T12s and two T11s. But one bad round has played spoiler every time he tried to break inside the top-ten. Most of the time, his errant shots and horrible mistakes have cost him big. At the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T11), Spieth’s ball landed inside a bush, and his recovery shot barely traveled a few yards. Spieth acknowledged as much.

“I’ve made some bad decisions or hit some wrong tee shots at the wrong time or missed contact that have cost me from having a chance to win three or four times and finishing where I finish,” the 32-year-old said in March.

It was evident at the RBC Heritage as well. In the first round, Spieth ranked 78th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee, losing over two strokes with his drives. He barely hit six of the 14 fairways (42.86%), ranking him at the bottom of the table. On top of that, his putting nightmare refuses to end. He ranks 54th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA Tour. He has converted only 40% of the putts from inside eight feet, which ranks him 143rd on the PGA Tour.

After the first round, the 2022 RBC Heritage winner sits six shots behind the leader, Ludvig Aberg. In golf, a six-shot deficit with 54 holes to play is easily salvageable. But Spieth needs to polish his tee shots and sharpen his flat stick to have any hopes of repeating his 2022 victory. That, right now, appears to be a hard task.