Ohio: Jack Nicklaus thinks Tiger Woods got the proper ruling at the Masters. However, he's not so sure he agrees with the slow-play penalty given to 14-year-old Chinese phenomenon Guan Tianlang.
Woods' third shot on the par-5 15th in the second round hit the flagstick and ricocheted back into the water. He took his drop from 2 yards farther back - contrary to the rules - from the spot where he hit originally, and ended up making a 6. Tournament officials later said he deserved a two-stroke penalty for the violation, but not disqualification.
"Could they have disqualified him? Probably," Nicklaus said Wednesday at a luncheon celebrating his support and that of his Memorial Tournament for Nationwide Children's Hospital. "But you've got all the best rules heads together and they said that they thought there was no intent to do anything (improper) and that two strokes was a strong enough penalty. And you move on."
Nicklaus, a winner of 18 major professional championships to Woods' 14, spoke on a variety of golf-related topics from anchored putters to renovations at Muirfield Village, which hosts his Memorial Tournament next month and also the Presidents Cup in October....
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09:21 AM, Apr 25, 2013
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN, Augusta Masters winner Adam Scott reflects on the big win. ...
08:59 PM, Apr 16, 2013
Adam Scott has climbed to a joint career-high number three in the world rankings following his dramatic Masters victory on Sunday. Scott became the first Australian to win at Augusta after sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to clinch a playoff victory over Angel Cabrera. He edged past the Argentine to claim the green jacket after the pair had finished locked together on nine-under-par 279 after...
09:45 PM, Apr 15, 2013
The Indian golfer talks about Adam Scott becoming the first Australian to win the Augusta Masters. ...
09:48 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Augusta, Georgia: Tiger Woods was left to reflect on his bad luck after finishing tied for fourth at the Masters on Sunday. The world number one shot a final round 70 to finish at five-under, four strokes behind the eventual winner, Australia's Adam Scott, but things might have been different had it not been for a wretched break in his second round. His approach shot at the par-five 15th was...
09:12 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Augusta, Georgia: Adam Scott finished the job this time and put an end to more than a half-century of Australian misery at the Masters. With the two biggest putts of his career, Scott holed a 20-footer for birdie on the 18th hole of regulation that put him into a playoff with Angel Cabrera and then won his first major championship on Sunday with a 12-foot birdie putt on the second...
08:15 AM, Apr 15, 2013
Augusta: Tiger Woods again found himself at the centre of controversy and a target of Twitter-verse on Saturday when he avoided disqualification from the Masters after taking an illegal drop in the second round. While golf's rules are clear that a disqualification was in order, Woods escaped with a two-shot penalty even after admitting in his post-round interview on Friday that he failed to drop his ball as close as...
08:59 AM, Apr 14, 2013
Augusta: The longest, strangest day at the Masters for Tiger Woods began with a text message from his agent Saturday morning to meet with Augusta National officials nearly six hours before his tee time. It ended some 10 hours later with a relieved fist pump for a key par that kept him in the mix for another green jacket. It was far different for the two guys atop the leaderboard....
08:59 AM, Apr 14, 2013
Augusta: Tiger Woods avoided possible disqualification from the Masters on Saturday when he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for taking an improper drop during Friday's second round. The world number one, a hot favourite at Augusta National where he is a four-times champion, earned his reprieve after being reviewed by officials for a penalty drop he took at the par-five 15th. Woods suffered a freakish bounce with his third shot...
09:17 PM, Apr 13, 2013
Augusta: Jason Day put himself in prime position once again to end Australia's Masters jinx when he fired a four-under-par 68 to seize the lead at the halfway mark of the year's first major championship on Friday. Day curled in a 13-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th hole to break a three-way tie and finish at six-under-par 138 on a difficult day of swirling winds and tricky pin placements...
08:14 AM, Apr 13, 2013
Augusta: Sergio Garcia and surprise package Marc Leishman seized joint control in Thursday's opening round at the Masters, though tournament favourite Tiger Woods was lurking just four shots off the pace. On a mainly overcast day at Augusta National where there was very little wind, Spaniard Garcia and Australian Leishman fired six-under-par 66s to surge one stroke clear of the field in the year's opening major. Long-hitting American Dustin Johnson,...
08:39 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Augusta: With a resurgent Tiger Woods once again on the prowl and Rory McIlroy seemingly back in form, golf fans eagerly await the start of the 77th Masters which is now only hours away at Augusta National. The year's opening major is always the most heavily anticipated of the four and, with a myriad of captivating storylines bubbling during the tournament buildup, this latest edition is rich with promise. Though...
08:14 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Augusta, Georgia: The Masters is widening the weekend field for this week's tournament and granting automatic entry next year to more PGA Tour winners, Augusta National chairman Billy Payne said on Wednesday. The cut for the 93-player field will be expanded by six to the top 50 and ties, along with those within 10 strokes of the lead, to include more players in the final two rounds of the year's...
03:23 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Augusta: Golf fans have drooled in anticipation of a one-two rivalry between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, but the mop-topped Northern Irishman said on Tuesday that talk was premature. "I don't see myself a rival to Tiger or to anyone," McIlroy said on Tuesday before a practice round at Augusta National ahead of Thursday's opening round of the Masters. McIlroy, proclaiming himself 100 percent comfortable with his golf swing and...
03:23 AM, Apr 10, 2013
Augusta: Hot favourite and four-times champion Tiger Woods has been grouped with Britain's Luke Donald and American Scott Piercy for the first two rounds of this week's Masters. Woods, who has won three events in just five starts on the 2013 PGA Tour, is scheduled to tee off at 10:45 am in Thursday's opening round at Augusta National. Though world number one Woods has not triumphed at the Masters since...
01:31 AM, Apr 10, 2013
Augusta: Guan Tianlang answered questions about his readiness to play the Masters at the record-setting age of 14 when he gave two-times champion Ben Crenshaw a putting lesson at the 18th hole at Augusta National on Monday. And the Chinese prodigy was not done, heading out at the end of the day with his idol, Tiger Woods, for nine more holes and taking time for some fun trying to skip...
11:51 AM, Apr 09, 2013
Augusta: Former British Open champion Darren Clarke has pulled out of this week's US Masters because of a lingering hamstring injury, the Northern Irishman said on Monday. The 44-year-old, who has made 11 appearances in the season's first major championship, suffered the injury just over a week ago while holidaying on the Bahamas island of Abaco. "It is with deep regret that I will not be able to play at...
10:25 PM, Apr 08, 2013
If Masters success was guaranteed by early season form and a high comfort factor at Augusta National, then look no further than Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson for likely champions next week in the year's opening major. The two Americans have produced hugely impressive, winning golf on the 2013 PGA Tour and, just like Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal before them, simply driving up Augusta National's fabled Magnolia Lane puts them...
08:44 AM, Apr 05, 2013
Augusta, Georgia: Tiger Woods arrived at Augusta National as a favourite to win his fifth green jacket. Instead, he left with his worst score as a pro. A 74 on Sunday put Woods at 5-over 293 for the Masters, which was his worst four-round score since he posted the same number as a first-time amateur way back in 1995. He shot a 291 in 2007, but that was good enough...
04:34 PM, Apr 09, 2012
Georgia: Bubba Watson conjured a miraculous par from pine straw to become only the third left-hander to win the Masters with an emotional playoff victory over Louis Oosthuizen at Augusta National on Sunday. The American clinched his first major title with a two-putt par on the second extra hole, the par-four 10th, where South African Oosthuizen bogeyed after ending up just short of the green in two and failing to...
09:14 AM, Apr 09, 2012
