I do not understand why everybody doesn't agree with this.
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/apr/13/buttitta-woods-should-have-disqualified-himself/
AUGUSTA, GA ? Saturday is traditionally called ?moving day? on the PGA Tour. For Tiger Woods, Saturday should have been ?moving out? day.
After being given a free pass from the Masters rules committee to continue playing despite signing an inaccurate scorecard, Woods should have done the right thing and pulled out of the competition.
Instead, Woods opted to accept the gift and play on, a move that flies right in the face of the integrity that the sport has come to stand for.
The controversy stemmed from an improper drop that Woods took on the 15th hole in Friday?s second round. After his approach shot hit the flagstick and caromed into the water, Woods unknowingly took a penalty drop several yards away from where he should have.
As Woods played his final few holes, a fan watching on television called to say Woods incorrectly dropped his ball and should be penalized.
Fred Ridley, chairman of the Masters competition and rules committee, reviewed the video with other members of the committee and decided Woods had proceeded appropriately and would not be assessed a penalty.
That decision was made just as Woods was completing his round, and since they were not assessing a penalty, Ridley said didn?t inform Woods of the controversy. Woods finished his round and signed what turned out to be a wrong scorecard.
A few minutes after signing his card, Woods did an interview on ESPN where he explained that he had purposely played his shot 2 yards behind his original divot. At around 10 p.m., Ridley got a call from CBS informing him of what Woods said.
Ridley and others watched the interview and believed they may have made a mistake with their original ruling. Ridley contacted Woods? representatives and told them they needed to meet with Woods on Saturday morning.
?We did that approximately 8 a.m. this morning,? Ridley said. ?Tiger was very forthright in his comments and his answers to questions that we had, and at the end of the discussion,
he indicated that and confirmed that he was trying to create a situation where he would effectively have a shot that was not going to go quite as far as his first shot did.
? I told Tiger that in light of that information that we felt that he had, in fact, violated Rule 26 under the Rules of Golf and that he was going to have to be penalized.?
Ridley then told Woods since they had failed to inform him about any possible violation before he signed his card, they would invoke Rule 33-7 that kept him from being disqualified.
While appreciating how much Woods wants to win this championship, he needed to have enough honor to thank Ridley and the committee for its forgiveness and then excuse himself from the tournament.
Golf is about strict adherence to the rules, not loopholes. Golf?s history is filled with countless examples of players who have done the right thing and paid severe consequences.
Augusta National founder Bobby Jones reflected the integrity in golf in 1925 while competing in the U.S. Open. Jones had a shot landed in the rough. Before he could hit his next shot, his club caused a slight movement of the ball. No one else saw it. He immediately called a two-stroke penalty ? on himself. He lost the tournament by a single stroke.
When people praised Jones for the gesture, he responded: ?You might as well praise me for not breaking into banks.?
A few years ago journeyman Brian Davis accidentally hit a reed on his backswing during a playoff in the Verizon Heritage Classic.
No one saw it and the TV replay was inconclusive.
Davis knew he hit the reed and called a two-stroke penalty on himself. It cost Davis the tournament and a chance to play in the Masters.
When asked why he called the penalty, Davis said, ?It?s not so important that you cheat to achieve it.?
I don?t believe Woods knew what he was doing when he made his ill-fated drop, but ignorance is simply not a defense. And Tiger knows that.
Had he refused the lifejacket that the Masters rules officials offered, Woods would have served as a shining example for young golfers about the need to put integrity over potential success.
Woods showed his extraordinary mental toughness during Saturday?s third round, blocking out the distractions and playing well enough to keep himself in the hunt for a fifth Masters title.
Should he somehow accomplish that, it will come with an asterisk next to it. It will be a tainted win; one that I am sure his late father Earl wouldn?t be thrilled about.
Based on how well he?s played this week and in the weeks prior, there?s little doubt he?ll have other opportunities to win more majors.
But it should not have been this week.
? 2013 Ventura County Star. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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