Tiger Woods avoids being kicked out of the tournament for an illegal drop shot.
World No.1 Tiger Woods has been pushed from three-under-par to just one under after being served a two-stroke penalty for an illegal drop shot.
This could be seen as good news for Woods however as there was talk that the American would have to be disqualified for his actions.
The incident occurred at the 15th during Woods’ second round at Augusta, when his shot cannoned off the pin and ended up in the water.
The four-time Masters champion decided to drop the ball from where he played his original shot, rather then the designated drop-zone, but later admitted he had dropped it two yards away from where it should have been.
However the rules of game state that a player must take their drop, “as nearly as possible from the spot where the original ball was played.”
By admitting to purposefully dropping the ball two yards away from its original spot, Woods was technically eligible to be disqualified from the tournament as he had not declared this action with a two-shot penalty.
The No.1’s round read as one-under-par at the end of day two, leaving him three strokes behind leader Jason Day, yet the punishment for an incorrect scorecard is disqualification.
Therefore Woods can consider himself perhaps a little lucky to be at the Masters at all, even if the penalty now leaves him five shots adrift of Day.
The decision is bound to cause controversy throughout the last two days at Augusta.
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