Tiger Woods' hit perhaps the unluckiest shot in the history of golf
yesterday, and to add insult to injury, may have inadvertently committed a
rules violation to boot.
On Friday at the Masters, Woods' third shot to the Par-5 15th green was
DEAD on the money, only it hit the flag stick and ricocheted back into the
water.
Woods proceeded to take a drop, knock it close and save bogey,
remaining in contention heading into the weekend, just three shots behind Jason
Day.
The legality of said drop is in dispute, however.
Under the rules, Woods could either hit
from the same spot, a designated drop zone, or anywhere on the line between the
hole and the point where the ball entered the hazard.
During an interview after his round, Tiger stated that he hit the
second approach from two yards behind the original spot, which could lead to
his disqualification.
Woods declined to hit from the drop zone, because it was muddy and not
as flat as he'd like. "So I went back to where I played it from," he
told CBS.
"But I went 2 yards further back and I took, tried to take 2 yards
off the shot of what I felt I hit [the first time]. And that should land me
short of the flag."
It did, and he drained the putt for a respectable bogey.
But if officials decide he did not drop the ball "as nearly as
possible'' to the original spot, he could be penalized or even DQ'd from the
Masters. Seriously.
The incident is currently under review by tournament officials, but CBS
replays suggest he may have been closer to the original spot than two yards.
UPDATE: Tiger was assessed a two-shot penalty for the illegal drop. He
remains in the competition but is now just one under par, five shots off the lead.
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