After reviewing video of the drop, then competition chair Fred Ridley cleared Woods of any violation for playing from the wrong place. Then things took a turn. Woods finished the round, signed his scorecard and went into the media centre to talk about what had hap- pened. He told reporters that he had dropped two yards back of his original shot. Whoops. The inadvertent admission of guilt (it wasn’t one of the legal drop op- tions) meant Woods had signed for a 6 when he really made an 8. That’s grounds for disqualification typically, but because Ridley didn’t initially no- tice the violation, which prompted Woods to turn in the wrong score, the committee invoked former Rule 33-7 to avoid having to DQ him. Instead, they changed his score to an 8. (The rules have since changed prohibiting TV viewers from reporting penalties.) JEFF MAGGERT, THIRD HOLE, FINAL ROUND, 2003 Maggert started Sunday with a two- shot lead over Mike Weir and was still up one heading to the 350-yard par-4. Maggert hit his tee shot in a fairway bunker and then attempted to clip the ball out, but it ricocheted off the lip and struck him in the chest. That resulted in a two-shot penalty for touching a mov- ing ball, and Maggert made a triple-bo- gey 7. He wound up finishing fifth, five shots back of Weir. “I guess my reflexes aren’t what they used to be,” Maggert said. One note: It’s no longer a penalty if you hit yourself, or anyone else, accidentally (Rule 11.1). BROOKS KOEPKA , 15TH HOLE, FIRST ROUND, 2023 After Koepka hit an iron for his second shot at the par 5, cameras seemed to catch his caddie, Ricky Elliott, mouth- ing “five” to Gary Woodland and his caddie, Brennan Little. Many thought it was clearly a case of giving advice to an- other player, which comes with a two- stroke penalty (now Rule 10.2). Koepka also appeared to flash five fingers. How- ever, no penalty was assessed. Augusta National officials said, “All involved were adamant that no advice was given or requested.”
GREENSKEEPER’S RUBBLE Ernie Els took questionable relief from branches in 2004.
ERNIE ELS , 11TH HOLE, THIRD ROUND, 2004
to the 14-year-old Guan four times for slow play, giving him the last warning as he walked to the tee. Guan asked how long he had to play a shot, and Paramor told him “40 seconds.” When Guan took 65 on his approach shot, Paramor gave him a one-shot penalty. Showing class, Guan said, “I respect the decision.” He went on to make the cut and finish 58th, the low amateur. Leading Ken Venturi by one as they ar- rived at the par 3, Palmer hit a tee shot that landed over the green and plugged. Under a Local Rule providing free re- lief for embedded balls, Palmer felt he was entitled to lift his ball and Venturi agreed. However, rules official Arthur Lacey told Palmer he had to play it as it lies. ARNOLD PALMER , 12TH HOLE, FINAL ROUND, 1958 Palmer disputed the ruling, then an- grily chopped the ball out, eventually making a double bogey. After holing out, Palmer then played another ball, taking relief from the plugged lie and
Battling Phil Mickelson for the green jacket, Els hooked his tee shot way off the fairway into a pile of fallen branch- es. Originally denied free relief by two officials, Els asked for another opin- ion. Will Nicholson, the competition committee chair, agreed with Els’ con- tention that the branches were piled for removal and should be treated as ground under repair. “In South Africa, we call it ‘greenskeeper’s rubble,’ and I felt pretty strongly about (getting free relief),” Els said. Before Nicholson arrived, Els also re- moved some of the limbs and his ball appeared to move, which would have resulted in a penalty. Eventually it was deemed the ball oscillated but did not move, sparing Els again. He salvaged a bogey but ended up losing by one stroke to Mickelson TIANLANG GUAN , 17TH HOLE SECOND ROUND, 2013 Rules official John Paramor had spoken
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