It’s 2013 and the first Australian golfer has just won The Masters in Augusta on a raining Sunday night in a playoff that featured near-misses and a putt for the win. Angel Cabrera’s putt on the 2nd hole of the playoff looked on target until it stopped an inch away from forcing Adam Scott into a make-or-lose 12-footer on the water-soaked 10th hole green. But Cabrera’s putt missed, giving Scott a putt for the win
. He putted for the green jacket yet again, having made a 20-foot putt to birdie himself into the lead on the 18th hole before the playoff. He had one more putt to win the biggest tournament of his life. One putt as the water dripped from his new-age long putter to send Australia into euphoria. “Come on Aussies!” he yelled when he holed that 20-footer with excitement earlier on the 18th, but when the ball rolled those 12 feet toward Australia’s first green jacket and dropped in with ease, Adam Scott’s expression was that of awe. It was hard to discern the tears from the droplets of rain, but it looked a perfect moment for Adam Scott and Australia’s golfing pride to win in such dramatic fashion. With so much heart and happiness and magic in the 2013 Masters, it is infinitely frustrating that we may very well remember all of this for the USGA’s uncanny ability to use their rulebook to steal headlines. Tiger Woods’ ‘illegal’ drop and two-stroke penalty that was assessed Saturday morning took headlines, all of them.
We have Greg Norman and David Duval, both former World #1 players, taking to Twitter, calling for Woods to withdraw from the tournament, to effectively disqualify himself for a drop that he did not know was illegal, and which no tournament official even brought to his attention until a TV viewer called in. Yes, that is correct. A TV viewer reported the ‘illegal’ drop that pulled Tiger’s score going into the weekend from 3-under to 1-under. The eventual winner, Adam Scott, went into the weekend with a score of, you guessed it, 3-under. The rule itself seems ambiguous and nonsensical to begin with:
Rule 26-1.
“If a ball is found in a water hazard or if it is known or virtually certain that a ball that has not been found is in the water hazard (whether the ball lies in water or not), the player may under penalty of one stroke:
a. Proceed under the stroke and distance provision of Rule 27-1 by playing a ball as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played (see Rule 20-5); or
b. Drop a ball behind the water hazard, keeping the point at which the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard directly between the hole and the spot on which the ball is dropped, with no limit to how far behind the water hazard the ball may be dropped; or
c. As additional options available only if the ball last crossed the margin of a lateral water hazard, drop a ball outside the water hazard within two club-lengths of and not nearer the hole than (i) the point where the original ball last crossed the margin of the water hazard or (ii) a point on the opposite margin of the water hazard equidistant from the hole.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if you skipped that esoteric jargon.
Rule 20-2-b.
“Where to Drop
When a ball is to be dropped as near as possible to a specific spot, it must be dropped not nearer the hole than the specific spot which, if it is not precisely known to the player, must be estimated.”
What if Tiger had dropped the ball six inches from where he estimated the original shot was taken, is that ‘as nearly as possible’ to the spot? I guess that determination can be made by a TV viewer who witnesses both shots from different camera positions. It seems as though we have unreasonable rules with the addition of audience objections and interruptions. What this has brought us is headlines; headlines that replace Adam Scott, Angel Cabrera, and Guan Tianlang’s inspiring play and accomplishments. Nope, we get couch-side whistle-blowers that suffocate the excitement and superb golfers on the sideline demanding self-disqualification for an ‘illegal’ drop that somehow gave Woods an unfair advantage by moving the ball backwards. Nonsense. Players’ generally do not gain advantage by moving the ball away from the hole, rather, they gain advantage by moving the ball closer to the hole, which did not happen. I want to talk about the rain falling and Angel Cabrera’s shot to the green on 18. I want to talk about the two years in a row that we have had emotional victories in sudden death playoffs. I want to once again be a TV viewer who cheers on the father-son duo of Angel Cabrera and his caddy Angel Cabrera Jr., the three Australians who aim to be the first from their nation to be victorious at Augusta, or the man in his red and black Sunday attire. But no, the USGA rulebook needs so much attention that it yanks headlines away from a 14-year-old boy.
Yell at Tiger all you want for not withdrawing, but first take a look at these two photographs from the same camera position for both his original shot and the ‘illegal’ dropped shot. How far from the original spot is the dropped ball, six inches?
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| By Isaac Clark.
Isaac is a writer at Sports Unlimited. |
