On Friday night, the Internet was buzzing because Augusta officials were reviewing Tiger Woods drop on #15 and trying to determine if he should be disqualified for taking an illegal drop and signing an illegal scorecard. After his shot hit the flag stick and rolled into the water, Tiger Woods took an illegal drop, and then signed an illegal scorecard after the round because he didn’t add a penalty stroke for taking an illegal drop. Had he taken a proper drop on the play, then this is never an issue.
On Saturday morning, Augusta officials released a statement saying that Tiger Woods would not be disqualified, but he would be assessed a two-stroke penalty for the play and start the day at 1-under. Here is their official statement:
Yesterday afternoon, the Rules Committee was made aware of a possible Rules violation that involved a drop by Tiger Woods on the 15th hole.
In preparation for his fifth shot, the player dropped his ball in close proximity to where he had played his third shot in apparent conformance with Rule 26. After being prompted by a television viewer, the Rules Committee reviewed a video of the shot while he was playing the 8th hole. At that moment and based on that evidence, the Committee determined he had complied with the Rules.
After he signed his scorecard, and in a television interview subsequent to the round, the player stated that he played further from the point than where he had played his third shot. Such action would constitute playing from the wrong place.
The subsequent information provided by the player’s interview after he had completed play warranted further review and discussion with him this morning. After meeting with the player, it was determined that he had violated Rule 26, and he was assessed a two stroke penalty. The penalty of disqualification was waived by the Committee under Rule 33 as the Committee had previously reviewed the information and made its initial determination prior to the finish of the player’s round.
Fred Ridley
Chairman, Competition Committees
The issue has been very polarizing among members of the golf community. Many people on the Golf Channel, including Nick Faldo, have been calling for Tiger to disqualify himself because of the controversy. Rule 26-1 is the rule that is crucial in this decision:
Rule 26-1 is the rule in question. There are three options.
• Woods could have played the shot from a drop area, which he opted not to do.
“I went down to the drop area, that wasn’t going to be a good spot, because obviously it’s into the grain, it’s really grainy there,” Woods said. “So it was muddy and not a good spot to drop.”
• Woods also opted not to drop the ball, keeping the point where it last crossed the water between the hole and the spot where he dropped. The ball entered the water off the front left portion of the green. Woods’ hit his shot from the middle of the fairway.
• The final option is the return to the original spot where he played, and drop the ball “as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played.”
“I went back to where I played it from,” Woods said, “but I went 2 yards further back and I took, tried to take 2 yards off the shot of what I felt I hit.”
This is the problem in question. If Woods played the shot 2 yards from the original spot, which he said he did, he could be deemed to have taken an illegal drop and be disqualified.
The only reason that I don’t think Tiger should be disqualified and that Augusta made the right choice is the fact that they could have told him it was an illegal drop prior to him hitting the shot. The Rules Official in his group wasn’t even paying good enough attention to his drop to notice it, Augusta only reviewed it because a viewer brought it to their attention. All this incident will do is make people that already hated Tiger, hate him even more; especially since Tianlang Guan received a one-stroke slow play penalty. The real issue is with the Augusta Rules Officials and their lack of consistency enforcing the rules.
[Video via: @stephaniewei] [The Victory Formation]