The $8.8 million John Deere Classic is one of the PGA Tour stops known to produce new and first-time winners. Since its inception in 1971, the event has had 25 first-time winners, one of them being Jordan Spieth. And even at such a venue known for new faces, he has secured two victories, one in 2013 and then another in 2015. Thus, TPC Deere Run is one of the courses he is very fond of. But this time, the 13-time PGA Tour winner produced a moment that was as unusual as it was memorable when his golf ball landed underneath a recycling bin.

“So what can I do?” Spieth is asking the official in a video clip uploaded on X by the PGA Tour.

After examining the lie, the official said that he could move the ball enough to recreate the “original lie.”

🤔 golf trivia

This Should Be an Easy One, Right?

01/10

Who Is the Defending Champion of the 2026 John Deere Classic?

Eric ColeBrian CampbellZach JohnsonJackson Koivun

Oops, bogey!

But don’t worry, there’s still the back 9 to prove your high golf IQ

PLAY GOLF TRIVIA

“So it doesn’t have to be as embedded?” the American professional asked.

As he got confirmation on the same, he placed the ball nearby and hit it straight on the green.

The incident occurred on the par-4 15th. After starting on the back nine, Jordan Spieth hit a 306-yard tee shot that landed on the left rough. However, he recovered well with an 185-yard approach shot to the left green, as the ball landed just three feet and three inches from the hole, allowing him to score a birdie.

The core rule here is the embedded-ball relief in the general area. The status of the trash cans also adds a layer. Under Rule 16.3, a golfer gets free relief when the ball is embedded in its own pitch mark in the general area. In simpler terms, if part of the ball is below ground level, and that lie is because of the previous stroke, the golfer gets free relief. However, this rule does not apply in penalty areas or bunkers.

Shifting recycling bins isn’t the first incident in which Jordan Spieth has done something that makes you wonder what he is doing. There have been plenty of others, such as the Royal Birkdale driving range drop at the 2017 Open Championship. He blasted his tee shot miles right onto a dune by the practice range. As a result, he and his team looked for the ball for about 20 minutes. After finding the ball, officials did a consultation and allowed him a line‑of‑sight drop on the actual driving range.

This year, at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he sought help from fans for something similar. In the third round, he hit the ball into thick bushes. So, he pulled nearby fans into a semi-organized search party to avoid getting a lost-ball penalty.

Jordan Spieth’s round was going well until this hole. He had scored a bogey on the 13th and birdies on the 11th, 14th, and 15th. But then, on the par-4 18th, he hit the second shot into the water on the left and got a penalty. He ended the hole with a double bogey. In the front nine, he then scored two bogeys and three birdies to finish 1-under 70.

Despite the 1-under 70 opening round, Jordan Spieth once again showed why he remains one of the PGA Tour’s most entertaining players. He turned an unusual situation into a birdie. And he will need to continue with the momentum if he wants to win the John Deere Classic for the third time and end his more than three-year winless drought.