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.
Failing to sign your scorecard is not "cheating the fellow competitors", but it got someone DQ'd from a major tournament a ways back. More recently the same thing happened to Michelle Wei.
PS...I am NOT a golf fan.
Tiger DID NOT assess himself a penalty! He therefore was required to drop as near as possible to the spot of the last shot. These pros can drop 5 out of 5 on a dollar bill!
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 of 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.
we have BINGO!
Have you ever hit a ball that you can't find? Then you know you must go back to where it was hit. You drop within a couple club lengths, add a stroke penalty, and play on.
You can think all you want. He is required under his chosen relief option to drop as near as possible. It should hit the ground within not more than a foot.
Sorry, I’m an Ex Rules Official, this is how it is.
I don't think you really do. The disqualification would be the result of signing an incorrect score card.....
Before Woods finished his round and prior to the signing, the officials reviewed the tape and determined that no infraction occured, and they told him that. Subsequently Woods signed his card without the two stroke penalty.
It wasn't until 10:00 p.m. last night that another viewer had called Augusta and told the officials about the post round interview where Woods explained his drop. The officials then got together again this morning to discuss it with Woods where they informed him that they were assessing the two stroke penalty which would have happened if they had made the correct decision yesterday afternoon.
Waiving the DQ due to signing an incorrect scorecard was the proper thing for the officials to do .
Just leave it alone! HE was PENALIZED. Therefore it was NOT the nearest point!
Truce?? I bet that is he had dropped it inside a foot there would have been no penalty!!!
It doesn’t directly state the diameter of the drop zone. I do know the rules. I even got my qualification at the PGA school.
That’s all great, but still paints Tiger as someone who knowingly was going to get away with breaking a rule and apparently had no problem with it.
He knows what he did, and he knew what he had done when they talked to him after his round. It wasn’t until this morning that he claims he unknowingly butchered rule 26 (to an extent that would make an accomplished junior golfer blush) and accepted the penalty.
Since these developments have come out it would obviously be hard to DQ him. My stance has switched to believing he should have just withdrawn.
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.” So how near is near is not specifically defined.
So I would still argue that the drop Woods took was totally within the rule as he interpreted it.
And although not relevant to the argument, I would suspect that this particular violation occurs frequently on the tour but is never realized by the player or the spectators........
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); or
I contend that he was using option B and thought he could go back as far as he wanted. Where he effed up was forgetting that the point of entry changed drastically after the ricochet off the flag stick.
b. 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; or
While you continue to lament the ever deteriorating language on FR with your Abuse Reports, we’ll ask that you watch your language also.
I'm not assuming anything, I merely pointed out a portion of the rule that was posted at the start of this thread in an attempt to point out what Woods MAY have been thinking.
But that's all irrelevant since the tournament rules committee, fully aware of ALL the rules, held a press conference and gave a full explanation of what occured and why they reached the decision they did.
Any argument against them, such as yours, is purely conjecture and I have no desire to get into an argument about what Woods was or wasn't thinking when he took his penalty drop...........
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