Tiger Woods is chasing a much needed green jacket at Augusta, and a win would mean his reputation as the world’s best golfer would be fully restored. He’s got the ranking, now he needs the trophy and there’s none bigger in golf than winning at Augusta at the Masters. But a drop on the 15th hole of Friday’s second round may come back to bit Woods, and could end his pursuit of a green jacket before it can really even get started.
First and foremost, as it stands now, the drop was legal and Woods hasn’t been disqualified from The Masters. All indications are that Tiger won’t be disqualified before he tees off on Saturday, but he’s not completely out of the woods yet.
The big stink is being made because of this: Woods’ ball landed in the water on the 15th hole, so he dropped it a few yards back. The question is did Woods violate a rule saying he should have taken a drop on the line last crossed — in other words did he drop his ball in the wrong spot and thusly play it illegally.
And you thought football was getting to technical with it’s rules.
Per the USGA Rule Book, Rule 26-1:
"If a ball is found in a water hazard or if it is known or virtually certain that a ball that has not been found is in the water hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not), the player may under penalty of one stroke:a. Proceed under the stroke and distance provision of Rule 27-1 by playing a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5); orb. Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped"
CBS Sports Golf Writer Kyle Porter tried to give an explanation as to why there is a brewing controversy at Augusta that very well could result in Tiger Woods being disqualified before he tees off on Saturday.
“Did Woods keep the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard ‘directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball was dropped?’ It’s hard to tell,” Porter explained. “It looked on TV like the ball shot off to the left, not between where Woods dropped and the hole.
The trouble really begins and ends with where Woods placed the ball after it went into the water hazard. If Woods placed the ball where it last crossed the margin of the water hazard (meaning did he place it on the line the ball was traveling when it entered the water), he’s in the clear. If he placed it in the wrong spot, he should have been assessed a 2-stroke penalty and because he didn’t record a 2-stroke penalty, Woods therefore signed the wrong scorecard and is automatically disqualified from competition.
The Golf Channel’s Jason Sobel doesn’t think Woods will have to worry, but the growing amount of chatter in the early morning hours at Augusta suggest that we could be in for “big news” concerning Tiger Woods’ eligibility to continue his pursuit of a much needed green jacket.
We will have to wait and see what the official ruling is, but while it seems as though Woods may have done nothing wrong and is in the clear, stranger things have happened and it would undoubtedly be one of the most talked about incidents in the history of the Augusta tradition if Tiger Woods is disqualified for an illegal drop during The Masters.