I Thought Golf Was Boring

It seems like Tiger Woods is embroiled in yet another controversy, real or imagined.

Those of you who play the game know many of the rules but, I would guess, not all of them and not all of the various rulings which help to define and refine them.

I was watching the Masters on TV when the violation occurred. It did not seem to be a violation at the time. However, in the post round interview, Tiger explained that he dropped his ball two yards further back than where he had originally played the shot:
 
" "I went down to the drop area; that wasn't going to be a good spot, because obviously it's into the grain and it was a little bit wet," Woods said.

“So it was muddy and not a good spot to drop. So I went back to where I played it from, but I went two yards farther back and I tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit."

Tiger had four choices after putting a ball in a lateral hazard on hole #15 (five, if you count hitting the ball from the hazard which was not possible in this case): 1- hit the ball from a designated drop zone, 2- hit the ball from an area two club lengths from where it went into the hazard (but no closer to the hole) if possible (this was not possible), 3- keeping the point where the ball last entered the hazard between the player and the pin/hole, dropping the ball as far back as the player wants, or 4- replaying the shot from as close to the original spot as possible.

Tiger chose the last option after examining the designated drop area.

There's a lot of noise and controversy over this. Some people think Tiger knowingly cheated, some think he didn't. It all depends upon whether Tiger was aware he was in violation when he dropped the ball two yards further back. I do not think he did or he would not have described it that way in the post-round interview; he would have said "I dropped it where I first hit the shot." Based on that, I think he was unaware that he violated the rule.

The second part of the controversy is the Tournament committee's decision to give him a two-stroke penalty, rather then a disqualification, for signing an incorrect score card. I am not privy to their reasoning but it seems reasonable that they chose to invoke a new decision making disqualification an option but not mandatory.

Tiger Woods, because of his ability to draw viewers will almost always get the lesser penalty. Some are angry about this, some are not. The vast majority probably do not care one way or the other. I stand with the vast majority.