Meanwhile, here comes Bubba....

They are quoting a rule that was brought in to stop people seeing something on TV , reporting it and then getting a player disqualified.

33-7/4.5 Competitor Unaware of Penalty Returns Wrong Score; Whether Waiving or Modifying Disqualification Penalty Justified

Q. A competitor returns his score card. It later transpires that the score for one hole is lower than actually taken due to his failure to include a penalty stroke(s) which he did not know he had incurred. The error is discovered before the competition has closed.

Would the Committee be justified, under Rule 33-7, in waiving or modifying the penalty of disqualification prescribed in Rule 6-6d?

A. Generally, the disqualification prescribed by Rule 6-6d must not be waived or modified.

However, if the Committee is satisfied that the competitor could not reasonably have known or discovered the facts resulting in his breach of the Rules, it would be justified under Rule 33-7 in waiving the disqualification penalty prescribed by Rule 6-6d.  The penalty stroke(s) associated with the breach would, however, be applied to the hole where the breach occurred.

For example, in the following scenarios, the Committee would be justified in waiving the disqualification penalty:

    A player makes a short chip from the greenside rough. At the time, he and his fellow-competitors have no reason to suspect that the player has double-hit his ball in breach of Rule 14-4.  After the competitor has signed and returned his score card, a close-up, super-slow-motion video replay reveals that the competitor struck his ball twice during the course of the stroke.  In these circumstances, it would be appropriate for the Committee to waive the disqualification penalty and apply the one-stroke penalty under Rule 14-4 to the player’s score at the hole in question.

Woods gained an unfair advantage by dropping back the distance he did, knowing full well he just had to replicate the previous shot to put it close. HE SHOULD WALK imo.

Rule 6-6

b. Signing and Returning Score Card
After completion of the round, the competitor should check his score for each hole and settle any doubtful points with the Committee. He must ensure that the marker or markers have signed the score card, sign the score card himself and return it to the Committee as soon as possible.

d. Wrong Score for Hole
The competitor is responsible for the correctness of the score recorded for each hole on his score card. If he returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken, he is disqualified. If he returns a score for any hole higher than actually taken, the score as returned stands.

The key point being is that rule 33-7 which is my understanding is the rule they have used shouldn't of been applied unless he has spoken to the officials prior to signing the card in which case rule 6-6 b would of given him 2 shot penalty or no penalty

people are being unfair on tiger. his interview (initially his downfall) shows that he was oblivious to his breaking of the rules. there is a new rule which stops players getting DQd in thiis fashiion. instead they simply incur a penalty. whats the problem. its just cos its Woods people getting in a twist

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/07/padraig-harrington-disqualification-rule-change

Almost zero chance he will walk in my opinion. Given he said what he did in the post round interview suggests he didn't even know he was breaking the rule or why mention it

The TV rule exists for situations where a player COULD NOT know they broke the rules.  Not for situations where they simply DID NOT.  Ignorance is irrelevant.  They have got the rules wrong today.

Total Bosman on the money.

As Faldo says Davies lost a match because of video footage etc but I don't blame Tiger I blame the authorities for not either redrafting the rules and or not having the guts to enforce the existing ones because every mishap now will have to be let go.

I think he was confused with the actual rule becuase he was wired up after hitting the flag and believed he could take a drop from behind of the first shot. I think he did realise this afterwards and the interview afterwards reminded me of his tv apology slightly
I think how he communicates today will help the golf world work out if he is worthy to win this one. I hope he does.

Pressure going to mount on Tiger, withdrawal might still be in play...if he was a normal human.

What says Tiger KNEW he broke the rule? Only reason he got two shot pen is because of tv pictures!! If a official got up to him and said the drop was against the rule he would take the two shot penalty before he signed his card

Because I don't think he was under suspicion of any wrong doing. If he had played the ball from the correct place, he'd have had to adjust the shot he played as it was slightly too much and in danger of going over the back. Therefore he deliberately dropped it back so he could just play the same stroke.

Bottom line 1 - bad day for golf when rules and interpretations are shown to be malleable and dependent on who is affected
Bottom Line 2- If Tiger wins it will be a tainted title and if he equals or beats Jack's record by one it will be a tainted record. the 'Timeform squiggle' will never be erased.

If Tiger had any sense he would have walked -his stock would have soared.

Alliss----rules are complicated

If he has been assessed a 2 shot penalty why is the Masters own scoreboard online still showing him as -3 ?

I'm not a huge fan of Tiger personally etc like most people, but in this instance i don't think it's down to him, if the authorities disqualify him fair enough and i'm sure he would accept it. But if i was him i wouldn't walk either. He endured unrealistic bad luck for a start which put him in the water in the first instance which is punishment enough and surely he should have been properly told at the time where to drop the ball - they have enough burger munchers marching around the course as it is. What do they actually do except to hassle a 14 year old Chinese boy? I would definitely play on if i wasn't disqualified and in practice I think 95% of people would

Wayne Grady seething