Tiger Woods had an interesting morning on Saturday at the Masters, waking up to news that he could suffer two penalty strokes but fortunately no disqualification for an issue he had on the 15th hole the previous day, knocking him back down the leaderboard heading into the third round.
Woods admitted on Saturday that he made a mistake on his drop on the 15th hole after hitting his ball into the flag and then into the water, leaving him farther behind as he chases his fifth green jacket. Sunday's leaderboard has Angel Cabrera and Brandt Snedeker seven under, while Woods is tied with a number of players at four back of the leaders. Woods may have been closer to the lead without the penalty strokes, but the move at the beginning of the day changed everything.
The issue for Woods came on the 15th hole and did not arise until after he was finished and his score card was signed, leaving rules officials to figure out what to do. Woods was lucky about the new rule that allowed him to receive penalty strokes and he admitted to the mistake on Saturday and played with the strokes in stride, keeping himself in contention with the final round coming at Augusta National.
Many players, fans and media members came out with opinions about the rule and after all the information came out about the situation and many were on Woods's side, including Bubba Watson and Steve Stricker. Some players took umbrage with the rule being pointed out by someone from home and not at the course. Woods would have been just two strokes out of the lead without the penalty. The Australians Jason Day and Marc Leishman put up another excellent round to stay in contention and give their nation a chance to win the Masters for the first time.
Tianland Guan will be one of the first golfers to tee off and he had himself a penalty the day before when he was warned twice for slow play and he didn't come close on Saturday, although he was warned again for the same issue during play. Woods will tee off with Tim Clark at 2:10 PM, while Jason Day, Adam Scott and Marc Leishman will follow before the final group with Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera tee off.
Some other notable tee times include Vijay Singh at 11, Sergio Garcia at 1:30 and Rory McIlroy at 10:30. The television coverage will be on CBS and live streaming can be seen online from the Masters official website. Day started off in the lead but fell behind a bit after a couple rough holes but he is still in contention right ahead of Woods. McIlroy was three shots out of the lead at one point and continued his strong play since last weekend's Texas Open.
Woods is looking for his fifth Masters and his 15th major, which would be his first since 2008 at the US Open, which he won in a playoff. Phil Mickelson had a rough day and is out of contention at Augusta.
10:30 a.m.: Trevor Immelman, Rory McIlroy
12:10 p.m.: John Huh, Ernie Els
12:20 p.m.: Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson
2:00 p.m.: Rickie Fowler, Steve Stricker
2:10 p.m.: Tim Clark, Tiger Woods
2:30 p.m.: Adam Scott, Marc Leishman
