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.
Masters 2013: Tiger Woods dropped ball significantly behind his original divot
An image of just how far behind the original divot Tiger set up on his second shot into the No. 15 green.
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:
The ball is significantly behind the divot, backing up Woods’ unknowing admission after the round that he went back two yards to take something off a shot that was just too close to the flagstick.
In addition to the original spot, Tiger would have had the option to play his second shot from the drop area in front of the pond, or play his shot on a direct line from where it went into the water. CBS posted this helpful graphic, illustrating just how far left that line was because of the carom (as well as the drop area -- position No. 3):
It’s definitely one of the weirdest turn of events in golf history, but the process of reporting the violation led to only a two-shot penalty as opposed to the DQ.
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