Tiger Woods responded to his controversial Masters performance during a press conference held in preparation for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Wednesday. Woods claimed that if he saw an obvious rules violation while watching golf on television, he would not call officials to notify them of the incident, despite this being a common and accepted practice in golf.
"I don't ever see myself calling in and saying that Kobe (Bryant) traveled or things like that. ... or some offensive lineman held,'' Woods said Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass, where he begins play at the Players Championship on Thursday. "But it's our sport, and that's what we've accepted. Certain groups are going to get more heat than others just because they're on TV. It is what it is.''
Woods made his most extensive comments regarding the controversy at Augusta since tying for fourth last month at the Masters. The world's No.1 ranked golfer received a two-stroke penalty after a rules official noticed a possible violation due to a drop Woods took on the 15th hole during the second shot.
Masters officials decided not to penalize Woods but let him sign his scorecard without discussing the incident with him. When they later determined a two-shot penalty was in order due to comments Woods made to the media, they decided to rescind disqualification - the typical recourse when penalty strokes are assessed after a scorecard is signed.
Woods was leading the tournament entering the controversial shot before his approach hit the flagstick and bounced into the water. He triple-bogeyed the hole and never really recovered, as he began the third round five shots out of the lead and finished four strokes behind Masters champion Adam Scott.
"I had a lot of momentum going at that time,'' he said. "I think I was tied for the lead with Fred (Couples), and I thought I'd stuffed it in there and I thought it was going to be a birdie and I could take the lead there and maybe sneak one in on the final three holes and basically start building a lead in the tournament. And it kind of turned the other way with a good shot.''
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