Cheat to Win

Dear Tiger,

Who cares about Bobby Jones and all that old school integrity stuff? Your personal goals are the most important thing. You are bigger than golf. You are golf. You have to have those majors. So go ahead and tee off at 1:45. I know I would.

Sincerely,

Lance Armstrong

Will Tiger’s inner circle speak truth to power?

This was a brilliant move by Augusta - Bob Costas just said they’re racist, sexist bigots. NO WAY they DQ Tiger, even though it’s a no-brainer decision. Do they already know Tiger will DQ himself? If he does, he will forfeit the Masters, but win his life. They will sing songs about the “integrity” of Tiger Woods.

If he steps on to that tee box to the chants of “Cheat to Win!!” it will be the most consequential moment in golf.

T-minus one hour and forty-five minutes…

Come on guys, step away from the ledge. Paul Azinger said it right, if he dqs, the rule is gutted as it currently stands. The rule is there to protect the player. If you don’t like the rule, then change it. He took his two-strokes under penalty of that rule.

If he wins by one stroke all hell will break loose. Going to be an interesting weekend.

Bit harsh. Have you never made a mistake on a golf course? I don’t think he was trying to cheat.

He signed an incorrect scorecard.

I think his mistake was entirely UNINTENTIONAL. That’s not the point. If the metric is “I didn’t mean to do that” then we have an aweful lot of golf revision to do.

No ledge, no casting stones from the glass house, just watching the excuse making with utter fascination.

“I went back to where I played it from, but went two yards further back and I tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit,” Woods said Friday after he signed for a 71, leaving him three shots out of the lead. “And that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back. I felt that was going to be the right decision to take off four (yards) right there. And I did. It worked out perfectly.”

  • Tiger Woods

So, if you get away with cheating, then it’s not cheating? Thank goodness they taught that 14 year old his lesson in sportsmanship. He probably intended to take too much time over his ball.

So far only Faldo, Norman and Chamblee have gotten this right. I’m absolutely shocked at the enablers and excuse-makers on television.

My guess is he was mistaken in thinking he could drop it back along the line, bit like the line of entry drop. I doubt he would try to cheat in front of millions of tv viewers.

At the time he didn’t sign an incorrect scorecard. The revised rule protects the player from disqualification from signing an incorrect scorecard, when it was deemed later that Tiger had not dropped correctly.

Tiger knows the rules of golf better than most players. I don’t think he intended to cheat. It was the heat of the moment and he looked stunned and angry after his first shot did what it did. That said, the replay clearly shows his second drop way behind his first divot. I’ll bet when he saw it on replay he knew immediately.

The revised rule does not excuse ignorance of the rules.

usga.org/news/2011/April/Rul … rect-Card/

There is a world of difference between making a mistake and deliberately cheating. What about Bobby Jones using an illegal sand wedge to win a major? Shall we strip him of that and label him a cheat? Of course not.

True, and he paid the price.

The committee was aware of the rules violation 1 hour before Tiger finished. How come they didn’t make a decision before Tiger signed his card? My best guess is they looked at the replay and could see Tiger dropped 1 to 2 feet from his previous divot and didn’t think it was a big deal. Tiger has to live with his decision IF he cheated on purpose.

Brandel Chamblee explained this best. It’s not about penalty or DQ, it’s about WD (withdraw). It’s about personal integrity. Augusta spoke in fairly understandable legalese regarding the situation, and I think they are perfectly happy to deflect this back over to Tiger. Tiger spoke “candidly” with them after all. Tiger claimed he adhered to the rules (he dropped as closely as possible to the divot) after he was called out on it. But prior to being “called out” he said he stepped two yards back to improve his situation, as I noted above. An unintentional mistake at the time, to be sure. But not this morning. Not now. Tiger almost got away with gaining an unfair advantage over his competitors and he knows it. This isn’t soccer, where you flop around on the grass like you were just shot from a sniper rifle when you want to influence “the call.” This is supposed to be about something more.

The acid test: If you were in Tiger’s shoes, would you feel comfortable accepting money or a trophy at the end of this tournament?

Few will go on the record, because the answer is obvious, and no one wants to get crosswise with Team Tiger (plus, Tiger Woods is really, really good for the golf business, right?)

The “Ruling Committee” has passed judgment, and so Tiger is telling himself that this must therefore be “truth.” But a committee ruling and the truth are not the same thing. Isn’t that what Augusta, of all places, is supposed to represent? I think Tiger just missed the most tremendous opportunity of his career, gifted from Heaven and above, and he has chosen his path poorly.

It’s an interesting situation.

If his wedge goes in the hole, and it very easily could have, he makes 3. Now with all this he makes 8. Not sure I have ever seen Lady Luck present a 5 shot swing on a hole before.

Whatever the rules are before teeing off is what the players need to adhere to. For most people, this is very confusing.

Maybe I should regret titling this post “Cheat to Win” because it is a little caustic and confrontational. I was actually pretty surprised not to see a thread already going on this, this morning.

A better post title might be “What Would Bobby Jones Do?”

The committee didn’t act sooner because they deemed he had made a correct drop at the time. They were looking at tape as he was still on the course. Only later when Tiger said in his post-round interview that he dropped two feet behind his first divot did the committee then conclude he had not dropped in a reasonable place to his first shot. If Tiger was trying to cheat why would he talk candidly about what he did post-round?

Suppose Tiger goes on to win… would he give up the green jacket in Butler Cabin to the runner up…? Just to prove that he could still win the event but then show his integrity and sportsmanship? I wonder what the Team Tiger legal team is advising.

Kind of like winning the academy award but then refusing the honor because one feels it was unjustly rewarded. Then the historians can figure it out.

What if he drops it into the divot and hits into the water again? Of course, it’s pretty hard to drop it in the divot from two yards behind it.

John, given these circumstances, would you take a check/trophy in the end?

Paul, saying Tiger was “trying to cheat” was not my intention. I’m saying his integrity has been called into question and the only honorable course of action, IMHO, is to withdraw. And the acid test: Would you be comfortable taking a check/trophy in the end? Could you look anyone in the field straight in the eye and say “I didn’t get away with one at your expense.”

*John revisited: just read your newest post (before sending this) and that is an intriguing option - return any $ winnings to charity, to boot.