Tiger Woods found himself in the middle of a controversy at the Masters last month after hitting a near-perfect shot off the tee and into the water, forcing him to take a drop and had it not been for someone calling in about a rules violation, there is a chance he could have been disqualified from the major.
According to ESPN.com, Woods spoke about the incident and said that although he knows it is a common occurrence around the golf world, he said that if he were in that situation he would not call in about it. Woods, who is ranked back at number one in the world after winning three times on tour this season, compared calling in about an infraction to calling about Kobe Bryant travelling in the NBA or calling about holding in the NFL. Woods explained that it's part of the sport and the golfers have accepted it.
Woods hasn't spoken much about the incident since the Masters and he was at the Met Gala on Monday night in New York City with girlfriend Lindsey Vonn before heading to Sawgrass. Woods was penalized two strokes after his incident at Augusta, as a call was made that alerted a rules official to a violation Woods may have made with a drop on the 15th hole. Woods was initially cleared by Masters officials, but after some comments to the media by Woods later on, they changed the ruling to a two stroke penalty.
Normally, Woods would be disqualified due to the fact that he signed a wrong scorecard, but a new rule allowed them to assess the penalty instead since Woods had previously been told he committed no infraction. Both the governing bodies the USGA and R&A issued a joint statement last week supporting the decision, while at the time some in the media felt Woods was given an unfair advantage. Woods had been playing fantastic when he hit the shot on 15 and he hit the ball so well that it hit off the flag and into the water, forcing him to take the drop in the first place.
Woods eventually hit a bogey on the hole that turned into a triple bogey and the hole basically knocked him out of the top contention, as he finished four strokes behind the winner in Adam Scott, who won in a playoff with Angel Cabrera. Woods arrived at the course on Tuesday morning after spending time in New York with Vonn and he told supporters that while fashion is not his thing, he went to support his girl.
Woods is now getting ready for his first tournament since the Masters and he would like to continue his strong play this season, but he only has one win at the course over 15 appearances, coming in 2001, and he finished in 40th last year at the tournament and was eighth in 2009.
