'Holy hell': Golf world in disbelief over 'terrifying' moment

Jordan Spieth had the golf world holding its collective breath on Saturday with a terrifying shot from the edge of a 20m cliff.

Spieth's ball was sitting nicely at the edge of the cliff inside a red hazard line during the third round at Pebble Beach, leaving the American star in a real pickle.

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Under normal circumstances he wouldn't have any issues playing the shot, but on Saturday he was staring at a 20 metre drop off a cliff if he put a foot wrong.

“This is a scary shot normally, but this is downright terrifying right now,” CBS analyst Colt Knost said.

“I went over and took a stance and yeah, it’s scary.”

His caddie tried to talk him out of it three times, but Spieth decided to take 7-iron from 162 yards and lived to tell about it.

“If I felt like I was in real, true danger of losing my life, I would have pulled the ball back and dropped it,” Spieth said.

“It wasn't quite that severe. But it was enough to where I certainly couldn't put a normal swing on it.”

Ian Baker-Finch said in commentary: “That is one that he will remember for a long while.

“Let’s hope he’s not suffering from vertigo or anything when he gets close to that cliff.”

Nick Faldo added: “Are you going to go for that? No way you’d stand there and play that ... oh my goodness.”

Golf world in disbelief over 'terrifying' moment

Spieth wound up making a remarkable par.

“It’s so weird because if you can normally see the ball, like I never had a situation where you can see a ball, get a swing on it, but you’re not going to play it,” he said.

“So it was just kind of weird because it was like, well if I can get a swing on it and I can hit it then why would I take a drop? Like just whenever, you’re never over, I guess I saw a 65-foot cliff. So it’s an unusual situation, normally if you’re walking into a hazard, you see a ball, you hit it out.

“I’m just glad I made the par to make it worth it, because I don’t think I would have made par with a drop, but if I made bogey it would have really not been worth it.

“But yeah, I mean it was, I was more like, it was more of a nervous and adrenaline hitting it and then when I got to the green as I was walking there it was more of like an anxiety feeling afterwards, luckily it wasn’t before.”

it ultimately put Spieth right in the mix for another title at Pebble Beach with a 9-under 63, his best score ever in the tournament.

with Associated Press

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