So I am a tiny bit of a golf nerd
Apr. 13th, 2013 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eve11Not playing, but definitely watching, especially on Master's weekend. And this is interesting because well, despite his personal shortcomings, I'm still a bit of a Tiger Woods fan.
I'm not sure how I feel about not disqualifying him for signing the scorecard yesterday. The 15th hole was such crap luck; if it didn't hit the flagpole, it would have been a birdie and instead it clanged off the pole and into the water. So he had to do a drop and then holed it impressively for a bogey.
Except he apparently did an illegal drop when he took the water penalty. And he signed his scorecard afterward, and it was a TV viewer who called in and said he'd played it illegally. Now generally if a player signs a wrong scorecard they are disqualified, but HD TV has basically become Golf's instant replay, with millions of at-home viewers as judges. They changed the rule against disqualification to protect players who didn't know they'd played in bad faith until it was under review after they signed their scorecards. This was because, for example, Padraig Harrington was DQ-ed when it came to light that his ball had moved slightly after he replaced it. Stuff that doesn't come to light until careful scrutiny from the HD/Multiple TV views shows it to be against the rules.
But in the interview after his round, Woods specifically said he played his drop 2 yards back from where the ball had been. And that is apparently against the rules. There is a difference between not knowing the rule, and not knowing you had violated the rule before video shows it true. I don't know; it's ridiculously pedantic, the game of golf, but it is a huge stickler for the rules. You are supposed to know all the rules and play faithfully; not rely on the "referees" to inform you of your mistakes. Woods was assessed a 2-stroke penalty but not disqualified for signing his scorecard because I suppose the committee evaluated his play while he was on 18 and then decided it wasn't a violation. But after hearing his explanation they changed their minds and assessed a penalty without DQ. So it wasn't that he didn't know he was in violation of the rule; he didn't know the rule.
I'm a fan, so I'd love to see him stay in and win, but if there's an asterisk after "2013 Master's"... it would be disappointing.
I'm not sure how I feel about not disqualifying him for signing the scorecard yesterday. The 15th hole was such crap luck; if it didn't hit the flagpole, it would have been a birdie and instead it clanged off the pole and into the water. So he had to do a drop and then holed it impressively for a bogey.
Except he apparently did an illegal drop when he took the water penalty. And he signed his scorecard afterward, and it was a TV viewer who called in and said he'd played it illegally. Now generally if a player signs a wrong scorecard they are disqualified, but HD TV has basically become Golf's instant replay, with millions of at-home viewers as judges. They changed the rule against disqualification to protect players who didn't know they'd played in bad faith until it was under review after they signed their scorecards. This was because, for example, Padraig Harrington was DQ-ed when it came to light that his ball had moved slightly after he replaced it. Stuff that doesn't come to light until careful scrutiny from the HD/Multiple TV views shows it to be against the rules.
But in the interview after his round, Woods specifically said he played his drop 2 yards back from where the ball had been. And that is apparently against the rules. There is a difference between not knowing the rule, and not knowing you had violated the rule before video shows it true. I don't know; it's ridiculously pedantic, the game of golf, but it is a huge stickler for the rules. You are supposed to know all the rules and play faithfully; not rely on the "referees" to inform you of your mistakes. Woods was assessed a 2-stroke penalty but not disqualified for signing his scorecard because I suppose the committee evaluated his play while he was on 18 and then decided it wasn't a violation. But after hearing his explanation they changed their minds and assessed a penalty without DQ. So it wasn't that he didn't know he was in violation of the rule; he didn't know the rule.
I'm a fan, so I'd love to see him stay in and win, but if there's an asterisk after "2013 Master's"... it would be disappointing.
