Tiger Woods ends bizarre day at the Masters right where he started – sort of

Tiger Woods ends bizarre day at the Masters right where he started – sort of











Dan Wetzel April 13, 2013 8:20 PMYahoo Sports






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Tiger Woods tips his cap as he walks up to the 2nd green. (USAT Sports)AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods stood on the practice green of Augusta National as the thin, early evening shadows crept across the grounds Saturday, the end of a long, long day at the Masters.



Tiger awoke at 3-under, then saw a text from his agent and was summoned to the course to meet with the competition committee. That's where [irony alert!] thanks to being forthcoming in a media interview he was docked two strokes for an illegal drop on the 15h hole Friday.

He was not, however, disqualified from the tournament, which sent some commentators and columnists into a frenzy. They either decried the decision or demanded Woods step up and do the supposedly honorable thing and DQ himself.

Of course he did no such thing.

"Under the rules of golf," Tiger said, "I can play."

[Related: Tiger still in the hunt despite disaster at 15]

He nearly eagled the first hole, wound up bogeying his way back to par and finally climbed to finish right where he was before the penalty – 3-under. He was so close on so many putts, though, that he knows he could’ve been better.

That brought him here to the practice green for some post-round fundamentals as the leaders slowly rolled in. About 4 feet from a hole, Tiger set two tees just slightly more than the length of a putter base apart. He then repeatedly knocked in a half dozen balls, sometimes using just one hand.

Eventually he, his agent, Mark Steinberg, and caddie Joe LaCava took a break from the work and complaining about a moralizing media member and stared into the sun at the large, hand-run scoreboard on 18. Just a few moments prior, Brandt Snedeker's birdie on 16 was recorded, moving his to 7-under. Angel Cabrera later joined him as co-leader after 54.

So the task ahead for Woods – four strokes and passing six players – is clear.

The fallout from Friday's mistaken drop, perhaps not. Tiger is no stranger to wild days, especially at this tournament, but this was something new.

"You know, [today] started off obviously different, but I'm right there in the ballgame," he said. "I'm four back with a great shot to win this championship."





View gallery.That's a championship plenty of golf traditionalists don’t think he should even be attempting to win.



From former players to television analysts, Tiger was under fire for his drop on 15 after a chip hit the pin and rolled into the water. First he admitted on television that he dropped the ball 2 yards behind the original spot – setting off a second review of the incident that eventually earned him that two-stroke penalty.

Then, after not being DQ'd for signing what turned out to be an inaccurate scorecard, he didn't voluntarily sit himself under the strictest possible interpretation of the rules – he a) gained an advantage on a drop and b) technically signed a bad scorecard.

[Related: Masters makes right call in cutting Tiger Woods a break]

"I think he should [withdraw]," David Duval wrote on Twitter. "He took a drop to gain an advantage."

That was about as likely as all of Tiger's critics turning themselves into the local police for going 38 in a 35 and not getting a ticket.

It's nice that golf aspires to be a game of honor, and it certainly would have been a rather magnanimous gesture by Tiger, but to demand he quit – or criticize him for not quitting – is to take this entire pursuit way too serious.

The Masters made him explain himself and decided he could play. Whatever is supposedly written on some ancient golfing scrolls isn't applicable. And really, this is a golf tournament held in an exclusive and historically questionable country club. Spare everyone the integrity lectures.

"I was able to go out there and compete and play," Tiger said.

He said the controversy didn't affect his game; that once he got back to the course he was focused on his game. "I was ready," he said.

[Related: TV viewer gets Tiger fiasco underway]

Still, it was an unusual day. He had to come over at 8 a.m. and explain himself, again. His downfall was telling the media in the first place there was some strategy behind his improper drop. The Masters had previously ruled the drop appropriate, and only thought differently after Woods' detailed explanation on TV.

Then he had to worry about what the ruling was going to be. "I didn't know what was going on," he said. Once he was cleared to play, he needed to make up ground he didn’t expect to lose in the first place.

As the confusing, very fluid situation played out, it produced odd scenes such as Tiger putting on the second green as Steinberg stood under a nearby pine tree closely reading a transcript of comments from Fred Ridley, chairman of the Masters Competition Committee.

In the end, inconsistency and a failure to make many big plays left Woods on the outside of contention. He'll need to fix both on Sunday to stand a chance at a fifth green jacket. Four strokes loom large. With so many solid names above him, he can't count on a mass collapse.

If on Friday he'd just not innocently answered a question about his thought process on an otherwise innocuous drop, it would all be different. He'd be just two back and without the golf police barking about tainted titles.

"Fred and the Rules Committee had already made the determination that everything was fine," Tiger said.

That was then. This was Saturday evening.

Soon he was hitting more practice putts.

McIlroy loses five shots in mid-round stumble

McIlroy loses five shots in mid-round stumble











PGA.COM April 13, 2013 8:49 PM

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Rory McIlroy's 79 was his second-highest score in 17 rounds at the Masters.(Getty Images)


By Nancy Armour, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- No sooner had Rory McIlroy moved into contention than he took himself out.

The world's No. 2 player dropped five shots in five holes Saturday afternoon, and had to par his last two holes just to break 80. At 5-over for the tournament, he trails the leaders by double digits.

It's disappointing, especially after such a good start," McIlroy said. "I was only a few off the lead going into the seventh hole today, and then all of a sudden I play through (Nos.) 7 through 11 in 5-over par. And basically, my chances in the tournament are gone. Basically, that's my chances in the tournament gone."

His 79 was his second-highest score in 17 rounds at Augusta National. The only time he's fared worse was in 2011, when he blew the tournament lead on the back nine on his way to an 80.

The Northern Irishman was hoping the first major of 2013 would jumpstart a year that so far has been a disappointment. He played well to get in contention at the Texas Open last week, finishing second with a final round 66, and expected to be in contention here.

He was lurking after a 70 in the second round, and a birdie on No. 3 put him on the leaderboard. After making pars on the next three holes, he felt like he was in good position to track down Jason Day and the rest of the players in front of him. Even a bogey on No. 7 wasn't too disheartening.

But his round came apart on No. 11, the long par 4.

After missing right off the tee again, he hit a poor second shot that left him with a wedge into the green. But the wind took the ball and dropped it in the water short of the green. He steadied himself with three straight pars, and thought he was in good shape when his second shot on the par-5 15th hit the green.

McIlroy was so convinced the shot was good he made a move to start walking, only to see the ball begin dribbling backward. It rolled all the way into the water. He compounded the error by three-putting once he chipped on.

"The margins are very small on this course, and when you get on the wrong side of some of these slopes, you can't help but get a penalty," McIlroy said. "A couple of missed shots here and there, but, yeah, I felt like I was done in on 11 and 15. That's the way it goes."

McIlroy conceded earlier in the week that the adjustment to his new clubs -- which came as part of a huge endorsement deal with Nike -- had taken some time. But he said his driving had improved greatly and he was gaining confidence with every round he played.

Even mighty Augusta National isn't as intimidating as it once was.

McIlroy had one of the more famous collapses in Masters history in 2011. Taking a 1-stroke lead onto the 10th tee, he pulled his tee shot into the trees left of the fairway, and the ball apparently ricocheted between two of the club's famous cabins. McIlroy had no choice but to punch it back out, but then yanked his approach shot left of the green, near a scoreboard, before banging a shot off a tree limb.

He finally chipped it onto the green -- barely. Two putts left him with a 7, and that lead had become a 2-shot deficit. He three-putted for another bogey on No. 11, and tacked on a four-putt double-bogey on 12 to complete the meltdown.

But McIlroy has come a long way since then. He won his first major two months after the Masters debacle, at the U.S. Open, and added a second at last year's PGA Championship. He was No. 1 in the world for 32 weeks before ceding the spot to Tiger Woods three weeks ago.

"I feel like I played smart enough," McIlroy said. "I mean, I'm playing it the way I know the way you should play it. I'm not taking too much on. I'm not being too defensive. I feel like my strategy's right. It's just sometimes if your execution is just that little bit off, you pay a big price for it."

Woods stays in hunt after penalty for bad drop

Woods stays in hunt after penalty for bad drop











PGA.COM April 13, 2013 11:53 PM

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At the Masters, Tiger Woods took advantage of his reprieve to shoot a 2-under 70 that left him four …


By Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The 5-iron was almost as good as the wedge the day before. Tiger Woods played the 15th hole Saturday as if he wanted payback, and this time there was nothing controversial about it.

The 10-foot eagle putt slid just by the left side, but birdie was almost as good. Woods was not only still playing, but back in contention for a fifth green jacket on what was easily the most unusual day in his 19 years in the Masters.

"Under the rules of golf I can play," Woods said. "I was able to go out there and compete and play."

A day that began with the threat of a possible disqualification ended with Woods surrounded by media as the sun started to fade behind the towering Georgia pines. But the questions were about what happened the day before, rather than the 5-iron he hit close on No. 15 or the 2-under 70 he posted to move within four shots of the lead.

That he started his third round two shots worse than where he stood the night before wasn't all that bad. After signing a scorecard that didn't include a penalty for an improper drop on the 15th hole, there was a real possibility Woods could have been heading home Saturday instead of to the first tee.

Once there, he was determined to make his good fortune pay.

"I was fired up and ready to play," Woods said. "I was five back and wanted to cut that in half. I kept it within reach and, as we all know, if you're six shots within the lead on the back nine on Sunday you're in it."

Woods was pumped, indeed. His fairway wood found the short grass and he followed with an iron that rolled just 2 feet past the cup. The birdie touched off the first big roar of the afternoon and a big crowd followed him to the second hole, sensing that this might be a special round.

If the events of the morning were weighing on his mind, Woods didn't show it. If anything, he seemed relieved to be playing after being summoned to the course at 8:00 a.m. to explain what happened when he took his drop on the 15th hole after hitting a wedge so perfect it struck the flagstick and ricocheted back into the water fronting the green.

If he didn't explain it well after his round Saturday, maybe it was because his explanation the day before was what got him into trouble in the first place. Masters officials -- acting on a tip from a television viewer -- had decided among themselves that Woods would not be penalized for the drop, but that changed after hearing comments made by Woods that he dropped back two yards so he wouldn't hit the pin again.

That would be taking advantage of a drop, something that carries a two-stroke penalty. Upon further review it was deemed just that, though Masters officials declined to disqualify Woods for signing an incorrect scorecard because he didn't know he was under investigation when he signed it.

"There's no question that Tiger should be penalized," Masters competition committee chief Fred Ridley said before Woods teed off. "That's not the issue. The issue is what should we do in imposing that penalty."

Woods got the word he might be in trouble in a text from his agent, and was complimented by Ridley for his candor when he met with Masters officials. The penalty was quickly adjudicated, and he was sent on his way before coming back alone in a black Mercedes SUV shortly before noon to play his third round.

Later, CBS would open its telecast with announcer Jim Nantz talking about how Woods made an "innocent" and "absent-minded" mistake.

"I've seen guys get DQ'd before," Woods said. "The rules officials did a fantastic job."

Woods had a chance to make an early run after his opening birdie but missed short birdie putts on the next two holes and made the turn in even par. He finally got things going on the back nine -- where he had just made one birdie in the first two rounds -- with three birdies in four holes, including his last on the par-5 15th.

That was the hole where his wedge went in the water on Friday and he made what he thought was a bogey 6. It was turned into a snowman 8 with the penalty by the time he teed off and he technically cut his second round score in half with his birdie 4.

Woods finished with three pars, including an up-and-down on No. 18 that he finished off with a 10-foot putt. He gave it a little fist pump and headed toward the clubhouse, with the crowd cheering his every move.

`It's tough out there," Woods said. "This is a normal Masters. We had soft conditions but the greens aren't soft anymore. We had serious speed; they were moving."

The round put Woods at 213, 3 under for the tournament and four back of leaders Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera. It's a spot that gives Woods hope on Sunday to end a nearly five-year victory drought in major championships, though he has never come from behind on the final day to win a major.

"It started off obviously different, but I'm right there in the ballgame," Woods said. "As of right now I'm four back with a great shot to win this championship."

Woods answered a few questions after the round, but clearly wasn't about to get in any long discussions about his possible disqualification. He quickly moved to the practice green, where he threw down a half dozen balls and began hitting 3-footers, one after another.

It was back to golf. And those are the putts he'll have to make on Sunday if he wants to win a fifth green jacket.