Tiger Woods might have never been formally disqualified from a professional golf tournament but back in 2013, he very nearly faced expulsion on the biggest stage.
Playing at Augusta National and going in search of a fifth green jacket, Woods found himself in a battle to win all week.
In the end, it was Adam Scott who prevailed, winning out on nine under to finish four ahead of Woods down in T4 before beating Angel Cabrera in a playoff.
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However, while Scott’s big win cemented his future at The Masters, it was a situation involving Woods that caught a lot of the headlines.
Tiger Woods escapes Masters DQ thanks to rules officials
With Tiger being the biggest name in the sport at the time, the idea that he’d be expelled from the tournament he’d already won four times seemed outrageous.
However, that’s exactly what should have happened had the rules officials been on the ball.
During round two of the 2013 event, Woods took what was perceived to be an incorrect drop from the 15th fairway after finding water.
But while the rules had a proviso for Woods to be completely removed from the tournament, he was instead handed a two shot penalty, which he duly accepted.
The issue here was that rules officials failed to act on the issue at the time. Woods had admitted in his pressers the night after his round that he had indeed dropped his ball in the wrong place. But due to the officials not intervening at the time, disqualification was overlooked as Woods made a hasty apology on the Saturday morning and took his two shot punishment.
What Tiger Woods said about his infamous Masters drop
This drop from Woods has been a bone of contention for years.
Had Woods not actually said anything, it might have all blown over but such was his brash nature, that it became something huge.
At the time, Woods admitted his infringement.
“I made a mistake. Under the rules of golf, I took an improper drop and got a penalty,” Woods admitted at the time.
“I went back to where I played it from, but I went two yards further back and I took, tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit. And that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back.”
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Still, it was this admission from Woods that caused the outrage, as he was called in the following morning to explain himself.
“They [the committee] made the determination [on Friday] that nothing had happened,” Woods continued. “After what I said, things changed and they called me in.”
To this day, many feel Woods got away with one and was given ‘special treatment’. Quite whether that is the case, only a few people know but it would have taken a brave soul to expel the world’s leading player two days into the Masters.
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