World number one Jordan Spieth faced a bizarre problem as Doral's Blue Monster course lived up to its name in the third round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

Spieth began the day seven shots off the lead held by Australia's Adam Scott and immediately found trouble on the par-five first, duffing a chip into a greenside bunker and having to get up and down to save par.

The Masters and US Open champion then dropped further off the pace with a bogey on the third, after which he could be seen talking to rules official Andy McFee.

And according to former European Tour player Wayne Riley, an on-course commentator for Sky Sports, Spieth asked McFee if he was allowed to dampen the bottom of his putter to prevent it slipping on the slick greens.

McFee was reportedly uncertain of the rules, but Sky commentator Rich Beem — the 2002 US PGA champion — said the issue had arisen in previous tournaments and Spieth would be allowed to rub water on his putter.

Water was causing plenty of problems elsewhere for early starters hoping to climb the leaderboard, with world number five Rickie Fowler starting with a birdie but then taking a quadruple-bogey eight on the third.

Fowler, who won the Abu Dhabi Championship in January, found water off the tee and with his third shot and failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker as he dropped back to level par for the tournament.

And world number six Henrik Stenson was having an equally difficult time, the Swede carding a triple bogey on the fourth and double bogey on the fifth after finding the water on both holes.

At three over par, Stenson was 13 shots off the pace with Scott holding a two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and defending champion Dustin Johnson in the early stages of round three.