US Masters – it’s a shame when rules ruin a tournament

Everything was shaping up for a great week at Augusta. But The Masters has been undermined by two controversial rules decisions.

We want to talk about Tiger Woods chasing his 15th Major and first for five years and about the sensational efforts of 14-year-old Guan Tianlang.

Instead, we have to focus on two isolated incidents involving those players.

Tiger made a genuine mistake when he dropped his ball in the wrong place on the 15th on Friday.

Having seen his ball ricochet off the flag and back into the water, his mind was probably racing about his bad luck.

But the ball had gone in the water at a different angle to the one he’d played from, changing the point of entry.

He should have dropped his ball a few yards to the side so why did a rules official on the course not tell him this?

They even have rules officials watching on TV to check for mistakes such as this, yet Tiger was still allowed to sign his card after 18 holes.

Receiving a two-stroke penalty for this is a new one on me!

In normal circumstances, Woods would be disqualified for signing for the wrong score card.

And if he had gone on to win the Green Jacket, his triumph would have forever been tainted over this incident.

But I was so pleased that Guan’s one-stroke penalty for slow play did not stop him making the cut. That was harsh in the extreme.

Indeed, playing partner Ben Crenshaw, a two-time Masters Champion, called it ‘an ugly ruling’. Golf does have a problem with slow play, but they’ve picked on the wrong player here.

It was windy on Friday and that makes things tricky at Augusta. Most rounds were taking five-and-a-half hours as a result, yet the only person punished was a 14-year-old boy.

On the positive side, Guan’s performance has been great for golf.