Tiger Woods issued 2-shot penalty for illegal drop at 2013 Masters

Tiger Woods, whose ball-drops, from Abu Dhabi to Ponte Vedra Beach, have come under intense scrutiny several times this season, could benefit from a quick brush-up on golf’s golden rules, says Dottie Pepper.

“I think I’d go to rules school or pay somebody to come in,” Pepper, a 17-time winner on the LPGA Tour and former NBC/Golf Channel analyst, told SBNation on Thursday, more than a month after Woods hit that flagstick in the second round at Augusta, took an illegal drop, and incurred a two-stroke penalty but no disqualification for signing an incorrect scorecard. “You don’t have to be an expert in the rules, but you need to know what mistakes not to make.”

BOSTON, Mass. -- Arnold Palmer, who was at the epicenter of a long-ago ball-drop dispute at Augusta, suggested Wednesday that Tiger Woods should have withdrawn from the Masters in April after tourney officials slapped him with a two-stroke penalty instead of a disqualification for taking an illegal drop during the second round.

After his approach shot to the green on Augusta’s par-5 15th hit the flagstick and caromed into the water hazard in front of the green, Woods took an improper ball drop and signed for a bogey-6 that, thanks to a couple of tips from TV viewers and a new rule, became a triple-bogey 8 the next day.

Tiger Woods’ illegal ball drop during the second round of the Masters remains Topic A in the golf world, and the victim of the unlucky shot and ensuing two-stroke penalty said he was surprised that the incident stoked heated discussion that shows no signs of losing steam.

“Yeah, actually I am, because I think Fred [Ridley, Masters competition committee chair] explained it pretty well,” Woods told reporters Tuesday after a brief practice round ahead of this week’s Players Championship. “For some reason, evidently, that wasn’t accepted.”

Tiger Woods’ Augusta ball-drop fiasco is almost a month old but the debate about whether he should or should not have been disqualified or withdrawn from the Masters rages on. Besieged by questions regarding the matter, golf’s governing bodies issued a joint statement Wednesday that they hoped would clear up the matter once and for all.

The USGA and R&A blamed officials and the player for the snafu that resulted when the world’s No. 1 took an improper drop on the 15th hole during the second round of the Masters.

Tiger Woods received the correct punishment for his improper ball drop during the second round of the Masters, but the slow-play penalty officials slapped on Guan Tianlang was out of bounds, according to Jack Nicklaus.

“Could they have disqualified him? Probably,” the AP quoted Nicklaus as saying Wednesday about the storm that swirled around Augusta after Woods’ third shot to the par-5 15th slammed the flagstick and caromed into the water and his resulting illegal drop. “But you’ve got all the best rules heads together and they said that they thought there was no intent to do anything [improper] and that two strokes was a strong enough penalty. And you move on.”

Two days later, but we’re starting to get to the truth:

A better image of this important examination.

Tiger Woods woke up Saturday morning to the news that his drop on the 15th hole in Friday’s second round was the subject of intense scrutiny.

“This morning,” Woods told CBS’ Bill Macatee about when he learned that there was an issue with how he dropped the ball after his third shot on the par-5 found water.

The immediate reaction from the golf press to Augusta National’s decision to issue Tiger Woods a 2-shot penalty, rather than disqualify him, was horror. Golf Channel was live on the air with their pregame show when the decision came down, and Brandel Chamblee and Nick Faldo were on the spot to excoriate the ruling. Chamblee immediately shifted to Woods not accepting the ruling and disqualifying himself, as nothing less would leave a cloud over the game and the rest of Tiger’s career.

Faldo was in lockstep with Chamblee, and called the decision dreadful. Here’s a snippet from his comments earlier today:

The full field is now out on the course for Saturday’s third round at Augusta National, but as expected, CBS led off their broadcast with a thorough review of the two-shot penalty assessed to Tiger Woods earlier in the day. The rules committee at Augusta dinged Woods for an illegal drop, with the biggest question being the proximity of the drop shot to the spot of his original shot that went into the water.

Under the rules, Tiger had to play his second shot from as near as possible to the place of the original shot. But he was clearly a few paces behind the divot of that first shot. Here’s a close-up of where his dropped ball came to rest, in relation to the divot:

This whole “Tiger Woods Rule” would never have come about but for that peculiarity in golf that allows fans sitting in their living rooms to let their fingers do the walking whenever they believe a PGA Tour player has violated a rule.

So, of course, it turns out that two remote rules officials called in -- not to CBS or ESPN, as Golf Channel’s Steve Sands noted, but to Augusta National Golf Club itself -- to point out that Woods breached rule 26-1 when he took an improper drop after knocking his third shot into the drink on the par-5 15th on Friday.

No. Let’s get the silliness about Tiger Woods voluntarily withdrawing from The Masters because he unknowingly broke a rule out of the way first: No, no, no, no. There’s no reason for Tiger to “disqualify himself,” as I’ve seen written and said, and take the “high road” out of Augusta.

This is all a bunch of bull. To understand why, we need to go all the way back to the chain of events that got us into this mess. On Friday at 15, Tiger Woods hit a perfect shot. Really, his approach into the green was perfect. It was just ... unlucky.

Tiger Woods has issued a comment on the controversy swirling at Augusta National this morning over an illegal drop he took at No. 15 on Friday. Woods, or someone representing him, sent the statement in a series of tweets just before Noon:

Tiger rarely uses his Twitter account for instant observations or musings. But the penalty, and then his response to it, will be the biggest story in golf this year. There has been a lot of outside pressure from golf commentators and former players for Woods to DQ himself, but reports came out that, unsurprisingly, he had no such plans. And there’s absolutely no mention of that possibility in these tweets.

As the “Tiger Drop” controversy remains a hotly debated topic on television and social media, one question looms over the 2013 Masters: will Tiger Woods decide to withdraw from the tournament?

According to the Washington Post’s Barry Svrluga’s recent tweet, the answer is a resounding “no”:

What will from this day forward be referred to as the “Tiger Woods Rule” has spared golf’s marquee player from disqualification from the Masters for taking an illegal drop during Friday’s second round, but the jury has come in from the court of public opinion, which believes the 14-time major champ should take himself out of play.

“Me, personally, this is dreadful,” Golf Channel’s Nick Faldo said about the ruling from tournament officials. The ruling assessed Woods a two-stroke penalty for his improper drop, but did not boot him from the proceedings.

Moments ago, Augusta National Golf Club released an official statement regarding the decision to assess Tiger Woods a two-shot penalty for taking an illegal drop during his second round.

Here’s the statement from Tournament Headquarters:

As the golf world received the news that Tiger Woods dodged a bullet and will continue to play for his fifth green jacket after incurring a two-shot penalty for an illegal ball drop at Augusta, it’s clear from past evidence that the 14-time major champ needs to bone up on his USGA rules book.

Back in January, in his first worldwide event of the 2013 season at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Woods incurred a two-stroke penalty for -- yup -- taking an illegal drop. That penalty cost him dearly as he missed the cut, though the price he would have paid for getting bounced from the Masters would have obviously been far more onerous.

Moments after Augusta National rules officials announced that Tiger Woods would receive a two-shot penalty for an improper drop instead of disqualification for signing an incorrect scorecard, the Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee voiced his opinion on-air.

“I’m a fan of Tiger Woods and a huge fan of golf,” Chamblee prefaced. “This is going to be the most controversial thing that follows him around for the rest of his career.”

Tiger Woods received a two-shot penalty rather than a disqualification from Masters officials for his drop at the 15th hole during Friday’s round.

In what clearly could have been the most explosive incident in golf since Tiger crashed his SUV into that fire hydrant, the 14-time major champion gets to play on in his effort to get a step closer to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors. Woods entered the week as the prohibitive favorite to win the tourney after starting the 2013 season on a serious roll, with three PGA Tour wins in five events.

At the time of this writing, Tiger Woods is still waiting to receive a ruling on whether he took an illegal drop during his second round or not. As history will show, Augusta National Golf Club and The Masters have seen their fair share of questionable rulings over the years.

One of the most noted controversies in Masters history came at the 1958 tournament, again surrounding an alleged illegal drop. While on hole No. 12, Arnold Palmer was struggling to maintain a one-shot lead over Ken Venturi. Palmer’s tee shot soared over the green and plugged in the rough. Due to a local rule in play that week, Palmer felt he was entitled to free relief. Venturi agreed and rules official Arthur Lacey was called to the scene to confirm. Lacey disagreed with the players’ interpretation of the rule and an argument ensued.

The wild Saturday morning at Augusta National continues, as Tiger Woods has reportedly been asked to come to Augusta National Golf Course. Tiger does not tee off until 1:45 p.m. ET, so he would normally not get to the course until much later in the day. But Barry Svrluga of The Washington Post tweets that Woods has been called in:

As Svrluga cautions, this does not necessarily mean it’s a meeting to inform him he’s been disqualified. But they also certainly wouldn’t make the decision to disqualify him without talking to him first. It’s perhaps the biggest ruling in the history of the tournament.

As the golf world sits on the edge of its proverbial seat awaiting a decision on Tiger Woods’ future at the 2013 Masters, armchair Rules Officials have taken to Twitter to seek clarification on this issue.

It would appear that Tiger has two “outs” thanks to some interesting language in the Rules of Golf. Specifically, Decision 26-1/17 and Rule 33-7. (Note: “Decisions” are meant to be a type of addendum to a rule)

The debate over whether Tiger Woods took an illegal drop on No. 15 has hit Augusta National, as reports are now out that tournament officials are meeting this morning to discuss the issue. Robert Lusetich of FOX Sports tweeted shortly before 8 a.m. that officials were now aware of the situation and reviewing it:

What’s being reviewed is Tiger’s drop on No. 15 after his ball caromed off the pin and into the pond in front of the green. Tiger had the option to play it on the line where it crossed into the water, or drop and play from the same spot of the first shot. Tiger said after the round that he went two yards back from the spot of his original shot, and he certainly wasn’t on the same line because of the carom off the flagstick.

Hold on to your hats, golf fans. Tiger Woods may have taken an illegal drop on hole No. 15 during his second round at The Masters.

The debate was sparked late Friday evening as the Golf Channel’s Jason Sobel alerted Twitter of the growing discussion: