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The PGA<\/a> Tour is on a positive trajectory with a new CEO in charge and an improved schedule on the horizon, but Jordan Spieth believes there’s a major issue in professional golf that needs to be addressed. Speaking ahead of the 2026 John Deere Classic<\/a>, Spieth outlined the dangers that legalized sports betting has brought to the PGA Tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n More specifically, Spieth<\/a> hypothesized that the fan abuse Wyndham Clark endured at the U.S. Open was tied to the rise of sports gambling.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I think the one thing that I\u2019ll point out is I do think that betting in golf is something that\u2019s going to have to be tackled here soon,” Spieth told reporters at TPC Deere Run, per Golf Digest, “because I don\u2019t know how much of the Wyndham scenario was the fact that it was enticing to bet the field versus Wyndham on Sunday in a legalized betting state. And you could have had people out there that are essentially, you know, have $100 to $10,000, depending on who it is, on the field versus somebody else.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Throughout the final round at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, fans outwardly rooted for Clark to blow his lead. The New York crowd urged Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns to make a run at Clark and heckled the leader relentlessly.<\/p>\n Heckling isn’t against the rules of golf, but it does open the door to shouting in a player’s backswing to affect his shot. That, Spieth<\/a> says, is the slippery slope sports betting could cause.<\/p>\n “In golf it’s tricky because you could actually impact the outcome if you wanted to,” Spieth said. “It may not last very long, but you could impact a shot if you wanted to. I don\u2019t know of another sport that you could impact as a fan like you can in golf. So I don\u2019t know how much that\u2019s having to do with it, if it’s different than it used to be…<\/p>\n “I will say that from what I\u2019ve seen, a lot of times it has to do with betting, and that is in the last five years. We’ll see what happens with that.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n
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