Posted on 04/12/2013 10:01:38 PM PDT by FlJoePa
Don't Drop the Ball, Augusta
On a day that so much attention was given to a rules infraction, it’s another rules infraction that everyone should be talking about.
We all know that 14 year old Guan Tianlang, competing at a level far beyond his age, was assessed a 1-stroke penalty for slow play. While basically nobody liked this ruling or agreed with it, it was technically correct.
USGA Rule 26 governs drops when a ball is in a water hazard. Per this rule, a player can replay the shot from “as nearly as possible from the spot from which the original ball was last played.” A player can also go back as far as he’d like keeping the flag and the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard in line.
When Tiger Woods hit his approach into hole 15, his ball caromed off the flagstick and went into the water hazard near the front-left portion of the green. Per Tiger’s post-round comments, he then went back to where he played from, but went 2 yards farther back. When he did this, I tweeted “Whe did TW's ball last cross the margin of the hazard? Near the bleachers. Shouldn't he have dropped on that line, not the line he did?”
Clearly, Tiger could have dropped from his original spot, but admitting that he dropped 2 yards farther back eliminates the “re-hit” drop option from consideration. The only other option he had was to keep the point where the ball last crossed the margin in line with the flag.
As I stated above, the ball bounced off the stick and rolled off the front-left portion of the green and into the hazard. That is the point the ball last crossed the margin of the hazard, and that is the controlling point for the line Tiger needed to take his drop from.
It’s absolutely within the realm of possibility Tiger just assumed his ball crossed the hazard on the line he originally hit it (it did, at first), but that line does not control where you take your drop. Check out the last paragraph of this Rules Decision:
“If a ball last crossed the margin of a water hazard as described in the situation above, it appears that the ball crossed the margin of the hazard three times (e.g., first, the initial time it crossed; second, when it crossed over the hazard onto land; and third, when the ball rolled back into the hazard). So when the Rule states that the ball must be dropped “keeping the point where the ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is to be dropped,” it is referring to the third (final) time. It is the reference point for the 26-1b option only.”
On a day that rules were being enforced, the Officials might want to go have a look at this one.
"When he said he dropped 2 yards back i thought he had a problem"
Did the officials ignored a violation?
ignore not ignored.
Tigerhate. Gotta love it.
He’ll DQ himself right around the same time Nobama resigns for his birth certification infraction.
Get ready to see Tiger in green on Sunday.
I actually have him in my pool. Rules is rules though. You just can’t get away with that, or the other players will freak out. He admits to the violation on live television. They have to DQ him.
The footage of his shot and re-shot is here:
Freeze the footage at the 9-second mark (the location of the first shot). Then freeze it at the 1:39 mark (the location of the second shot).
I’m a little confused about the different placement. Where is the divot from the 1st shot? The angle/approach to the green seems different in the 2nd shot too, but that could just be from the camera having been moved.
If the divot is where it looks like it may be, that sure doesn’t look like 6 feet to me.
Thoughts?
I think most people watch golf for the same reason I do...they enjoy the sport and enjoy watching someone play well. The personal lives of the players are not part of the game and properly so.
But in any event it still is just a game.
People on FR have evey right to call out Woods as a scumbag....cause that’s what he is. It’s reality. No one is making any thing up about him. My gripe with Woods is simple: I believe he was on PEDS. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard golf announcers say Woods is the only golfer in history to be able to lift the ball out of the ruff like he does.
Wood’s doctor was caught with PEDS. Woods was blown up like a linebacker. Phil Mickelson hinted at Woods PED use a few years ago when he joked that he was now hitting the ball 20 yards longer than Woods....lol, and look at Phil’s body.
People say PEDS will not help golfers....that’s bull. Woods drove the ball like no one else & he was able to hit out of the sand & ruff in an unatural way that had never been seen in golf before.
IMHO, there is no penalty. He dropped the ball in the area as near as possible to where he played his first shot. He had a downhill lie. You can’t play the second any nearer to the hole (under this option). He had to drop (you can’t place) a few yards behind the original shot or else it may have rolled closer to the hole (remember downhill lie). Once drop is made, the ball is in play where it lies, regardless whether it bounced forward or sideways. I think he gets away with it.
There have been many instances where players have called penalties on themselves that no one else had seen, or DQ'ed themselves for rules infractions only they had knowledge of breaking.
If Tiger Woods cared for the game more than himself, he would have DQ'ed himself before the sun went down on Augusta National.
With this latest act of blatant selfishness, he has put the integrity if the game of golf, the integrity of the rules officials, the integrity of Augusta National and the integrity of the entire field of golfers in jeopardy.
He should change his name to Leopard Woods. Same spots, different day.
Sorry, he gets to drop twice and then place the ball.
No he is just an individual whose entire carefully constructed public persona has been shown to be completely fraudulent
The rule is clear. He broke the rule. Assuming he signed his scorecard, he should be disqualified. Instead they invoked the ‘Tiger’ rule.
Tigger needs to wd.
Oh...So it’s Woods you hate. That rule was put in in 2012. Was it put in because of Woods? I don’t know. And I don’t believe the rule is clear. Hell, it should say “place” the ball ANAP. That would be clear. If you drop the ball, it could very well end up a few feet from where it was dropped. The golfer is already penalized 1 stroke. Does he have to drop again until it stops next to the original (or after 2 drops, place it}? I don’t think so. The rule sucks for golfers. If you incur a penalty, you are allowed a drop within 2 club lengths. And yes, you try to drop within that area in a fashion that gives you the advantage. You can call it cheating if you want.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.