Tiger Woods Penalty: Pro Golfers React on Twitter to Official Ruling

By Josh Hill | Apr 13, 2013

Apr 12, 2013; Augusta, GA, USA; Tiger Woods reacts after his shot from the 15th fairway bounced off the cup and into the water during the second round of the 2013 The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports /

Did Tiger Woods get preferential treatment at The Masters because of who he is? That’s the question of the day that has Twitter buzzing, specifically with pro golfers and writers who follow golf.

One of the surprise stories to have developed over the last 24 hours came out of Augusta and surrounded Tiger Woods and a possible disqualification from The Masters. Woods could have been DQ’d from the tournament after he dropped his ball in a questionable spot after hitting a water hazard. USGA officials ruled that Woods did violate the rules but not to an egregious enough point to which a disqualification would have been necessary. Woods was assessed a two shot penalty however, and that has the golfing community on fire on Twitter.

As expected, opinions remain split between those who think Tiger was in the wrong and got a huge break because he is who he is, while others think that the whole situation is being blown up because of who is involved in it.

Take the fact that it was Tiger out of the equation and it is a fair ruling. Since it is him the debate begins about TV ratings etc etc.
— Graeme McDowell (@Graeme_McDowell) April 13, 2013

Two shot penalty official. I like this ruling because he took an illegal drop but no official brought it to his attn.
— Hunter Mahan (@HunterMahan) April 13, 2013

I guess PGA made a new rule if a player not knowingly breaks a rule can get assessed penalty not DQ that it seems = Tiger.
— Stuart Appleby (@StuartAppleby) April 13, 2013

I guess Tiger is BIGGER than golf. Any other person in the world gets DQ'd. Gotta keep those TV ratings going right?
— Kyle Thompson (@KyleThompsonPGA) April 13, 2013

In other news, everyone gets a mulligan off the first and 10th tees and one free throw from trouble on each nine.
— Dan Jenkins (@danjenkinsgd) April 13, 2013

So as you can see, the debate is clearly going on and will continue to go on throughout the weekend as to whether or not Tiger Woods got preferential treatment. That debate will only intensify as we get closer to Sunday afternoon and as Tiger continues to climbs the leaderboard. If Woods wins the green jacket, not everyone will be accepting of it and it will only mean the 2-shot penalty controversy will not be going away anytime soon.

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