Right call on Woods drop

Golf’s governing bodies have confirmed that Masters officials were right not to disqualify Tiger Woods for signing for an incorrect score at Augusta National.

Tournament officials were alerted to the fact Woods may have taken an incorrect drop on the 15th hole of his second round by a TV viewer, but cleared Woods of any wrongdoing and crucially failed to even inform him that there had been concerns.

Woods therefore signed for a 71 before saying in a post-round interview that he had gone “two yards further back” from where he hit his original shot after seeing it clatter into the pin and bounce back into the water. Under rule 26-1a, he was obliged to drop “as near as possible” to where his original ball had been played.