While most will soon forget the name of the guy who won the Masters last week, few will forget the situation that Tiger Woods found himself in after the second round that caused such a ruckus.
Just in case you forget and need to know for trivia sake, the 2013 winner was Adam Scott. Now to more pressing matters.
On hole 15, Tiger Woods hit a ball that eventually went into the water. He took a drop from behind where his initial shot took place. He nailed it within four feet of the hole.
The flap started when a person who was watching the event on TV called to say that what Woods did was improper and should be penalized. Upon further review, the officials handed Woods a two-stroke penalty for his drop.
Because the rules of golf are made up by overzealous lawyers, things were a little murky. Then the folks at Augusta National decided to impose their own rules. Because Woods signed his score card after the event, attesting that it was accurate and trustworthy, some thought he should have been disqualified. The Masters thought it would be better to assess the two-stroke penalty.
After all, isn’t Tiger the reason why most people watch golf in the first place? To send the marquee player home on something that was not directly his fault, considering that the Masters made the ruling and had to live with it, would have been more than what they could chew.
Yet some of the golfers and analysts insisted Woods should have disqualified himself, claiming he knew what he did was wrong no matter what the officials said. Many cited the fact that this is a game played on the honor system. At that point I fell out of my chair, as this is the same sport that recently thought it was a good idea to ban people from playing in the event because of the color of their skin.
Oh, the Masters is not alone. What about all of those who decided to stick their heads in the sand when the same thing took place at a local country club? I often wonder how those who still belong to the Old Warson and St. Louis Country clubs here in St. Louis can look themselves in the mirror when the subject of honor and integrity comes up. You have to wonder where is the honor when you deny a person an opportunity because of the color of their skin.
I guess the easy answer is “These rules were here before I got here.” OK, we get it.
Let me be clear that I am not crying race about Tiger Woods. Tiger has the ultimate mulligan anyway, as he is what makes the game of golf go despite all the upstarts (that eventually become has-beens) who have tried to better him.
While I am a fan of the Masters and applaud the direction they have tried to head, as they have now included women as members, I often wonder why the sport still lives in the Dark Ages at times. I also wonder how is it that some joker can sit at home and see the event and call in and make a rule change?
Think about it. What sport allows a person to make a phone call to change the outcome of the event? Is that fair, when the cameras are focused on the best players and not on everyone who is playing? There are some players who never saw a camera lens near them during the event, and yet how do we know that they played every round clean?
Tiger Woods made one mistake. In his interview after the match, he explained his actions after his ball went into the water. That was the smoking gun that created this mess.
What if Woods elects not to talk to the media after his rounds? What if Woods decides not to discuss his rounds and what his thought process was for playing that day? Where would golf be if that were to take place?
This situation could have happened to anyone on the tour. Because it was Tiger Woods, it was magnified. I am not sure that is what the Masters and CBS were looking for, but it surely raised the level of attention. Did I mention that Adam Scott won the 2013 Masters?
