Skip to Content

Tiger Woods’ hit perhaps the unluckiest shot in the history of golf yesterday, and to add insult to injury, may have inadvertently committed a rules violation to boot.

On Friday at the Masters, Woods’ third shot to the Par-5 15th green was DEAD on the money, only it hit the flag stick and ricocheted back into the water.

It was an amazing fluke. Take a look:

The Hollywood Gossip Logo

Woods proceeded to take a drop, knock it close and save bogey, remaining in contention heading into the weekend, just three shots behind Jason Day.

The legality of said drop is in dispute, however.

 

Under the rules, Woods could either hit from the same spot, a designated drop zone, or anywhere on the line between the hole and the point where the ball entered the hazard.

During an interview after his round, Tiger stated that he hit the second approach from two yards behind the original spot, which could lead to his disqualification.

Woods declined to hit from the drop zone, because it was muddy and not as flat as he’d like. "So I went back to where I played it from," he told CBS.

"But I went 2 yards further back and I took, tried to take 2 yards off the shot of what I felt I hit [the first time]. And that should land me short of the flag."

It did, and he drained the putt for a respectable bogey.

But if officials decide he did not drop the ball "as nearly as possible” to the original spot, he could be penalized or even DQ’d from the Masters. Seriously.

The incident is currently under review by tournament officials, but CBS replays suggest he may have been closer to the original spot than two yards.

Hopefully Lindsey Vonn‘s BF won’t get the boot.

UPDATE: Tiger was assessed a two-shot penalty for the illegal drop. He remains in the competition but is now just one under par, five shots off the lead.