Woods given 2-shot penalty at BMW Championship
Tiger Woods walks away after retrieving his ball after his double bogey on the first hole during the second round of the BMW Championship golf tournament at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill., Friday, Sept. 13, 2013. AP
LAKE FOREST, Illinois — Tiger Woods was involved in another rules violation at the BMW Championship on Friday and was given a two-shot penalty.
Woods began the second round with a double bogey from behind the green. Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president of competition, says the tour was notified that the ball moved as Woods was removing twigs from behind it.
White says video indicated the ball moved, although he says Woods was adamant that it only oscillated. White says the video was clear evidence, and Woods was given two more shots. That made it a quadruple-bogey 8 on the first hole, and turned his 70 into a 72.
Woods was at 4-under 138, seven shots off the lead.
The two-shot penalty means he is paired with Sergio Garcia for the third round. Garcia got into a verbal battle with Woods at The Players Championship this year that ended badly when the Spaniard jokingly said he would have Woods over for dinner at the U.S. Open and serve him fried chicken.
They have not played together since that dispute.
At the Masters this year, Woods was tied for the lead late in the second round when his wedge to the par-5 15th hole hit the flag and rebounded into the water. He dropped a yard or so behind his original position to avoid hitting the flag and escaped with bogey. Only later was it discovered that he took the wrong drop option and should have been penalized two shots.
While the incident at the Masters was brought to organizers’ attention by a television viewer, this time it was a cameraman working for the tour. An editor at headquarters going over the footage thought there was movement of the ball and notified the PGA Tour.
The film was sent over to tour officials on site at Conway Farms, and it was reviewed at the tournament before bringing in Woods for consultation.
The movement was slight, though it appears to have moved down when Woods touches a small branch to the right of the golf ball, and it doesn’t appear to return to its original position. White said Woods could not have seen that from his position looking down at the top of the ball.
Even after looking at the video, Woods wasn’t convinced the ball moved from its position.
“He knew there was movement there, but it’s like (he) was very adamant that it oscillated — it stayed there,” White said. “But this video was at the site, and the ball did in fact move.”
Asked to describe Woods’ reaction, White said, “He was a little disbelieving. How’s that?'”
It was the third time this year Woods was given a two-shot penalty for a rules violation. At his first event of the season in Abu Dhabi, he took relief from an imbedded lie in a sandy area covered with vines. It was determined that relief was not allowed in the sand. He was docked two shots before signing his card, and it caused him to miss the cut.
