Despite popular opinion, sports aren’t a life-or-death matter. Though the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am almost became so this weekend.
Jordan Spieth got as close to the cliffs at Pebble Beach as he possibly could in the third round on Saturday afternoon, and he eventually saved par in what was “by far the most nerve-wracking shot I’ve ever hit in my life.”
So nerve-racking, in fact, that he had to take off running backward after his shot just so he didn’t fall the nearly 70 feet down onto the rocks and beach below.
Spieth’s drive on the par-4 eighth hole landed just a few inches from the edge of a 68-foot cliff.
We don’t suggest approaching any such approach shot.
The shot itself wasn’t great, it landed long of the green in the rough, but he was potentially facing a 70-foot death drop. Let’s see you make solid contact in that situation. And, as we mentioned, he even saved par.
Furthermore, Spieth nearly set the course record as the 28-year-old posted a 9-under 63 to jump up more than 30 spots on the leaderboard and get within one stroke of the leader(s) headed into Sunday’s final round.
