Tiger Woods has missed his first ever halfway cut on the European Tour after breaching a rule on the fifth hole of his second round at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.
Woods, who had never missed the weekend in 21 regular European Tour events, thought he'd done enough to make the cut after walking off the 18th green believing to have posted a 1-over 71 to sit one shot clear of the 2-over cut-line.
But with pencil in hand, officials quickly informed him that he'd been docked two shots for wrongly thinking he had a free drop after his ball became embeddded in the sand by a bush.
Martin Kaymer, who was playing in his group, walked over to Woods and gave him the thumbs up to lift the ball, but Woods, rather bewilderingly, did not call for a referee and would end up paying the price.
The illegal drop marks an embarrassing week for the 14-time major champion, particularly after topping a drive during his first round. Oh, and he's also asked Elin back.
“Evidently, I broke a rule," said Woods, who was told on the 11th hole that he might be incurring the penalty but that it would be confirmed at the end of the round.
When signing his card, he was asked if he wanted to go out to the scene, but Woods asked officials if they thought he was in violation, they said yes and he took the penalty.
The penalty was not phoned in, as it came from a pair of fans on the course, according to rules official Andy McFee.
“A couple of spectators passing by the referee asked 'Why did Tiger get a drop there?'” said McFee. “We didn't know. We thought maybe the embedded ball rule.
“But the embedded ball rule does not apply in that area. It is a closely-mown area only.”
World No.1 Rory McIlroy, sporting his new Nike equipment for the first time, was also sent packing after posting a consecutive round of 75 to miss the cut by four shots on 6-over. And not even switching back to his old Scotty Cameron putter could help him.
Englishman Justin Rose currently holds the lead on 8-under, one shot clear of Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Jamie Donaldson and Thorbjorn Olesen, who is showing no signs of weakness having also switched to Nike this year.
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[SPOILER ALERT]
Not the best start for Rory. Literally - he hooked his opening tee shot.
After toiling to 3-over par on day one, he said: "I'm really happy with the way the ball is in the wind. I'm really happy with the irons and the wedge play, but I wasn't very comfortable off the tee because I didn't feel I was swinging that well.
"On the green it wasn't really happening for me there. But overall I was happy, I just need to work on a couple of things. It's still an experimental period and I've got four weeks after this tournament to get comfortable. But I still feel I can have some good rounds here."
Playing partner Woods finished level par - but also found trouble off the first tee when he topped his driver. Still went 175-odd yards though...
Rory hook:
Tiger tops drive:
Posted: 17/01/2013 at 12:11
did he get past the ladies tee 
Posted: 17/01/2013 at 17:57
typical journo use of poetic licence,looking to get the readership up.
woods did indeed as you say find trouble off the first tee, but not as you implied ,he and Rory teed off from the tenth not the first and as such Woods duffed tee shot was his tenth. tee shot not his first.
Posted: 17/01/2013 at 18:45
Rory - his hand came off the club soooooo early, it looked like a case of "I'm so uncomfortable over this shot" - would he have been better to have backed off and recomposed himself?
Tiger - I couldn't see the ball flight / trundle, but the impact part looked like a sky (something took off at close to 45 degrees). But like I said, couldn't see much on the video.
Posted: 17/01/2013 at 18:51
Looks like Nike may need a re-think. Looks like both Tiger and Rory will be missing the cut on the first outing.
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 09:39
ooohh !!!!! Tiger Dq`d after signing for wrong score .oops even the best make mistakes.
appears he had a plugged lie and asked Martin Kaymer wether it was an embedded ball ,Kaymer agreed and Tiger took what he thought was a free drop. apparantly not as the ball was in fact embedded in sand and as such does not give a free drop.
sponsors of the tournament must be gutted to lose both Tiger and Rory
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 13:55
I heard that during the photos before the tournament a photographer asked justin rose to move so they could just get a picture of Tiger and Rory together , Tiger and Rory both on their way home whilst Rose leads on -8 , SWOOSH MY ARSE
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 15:33
Funky, DQ'd really ?
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 15:36
It wouldnt suprise me if they were getting ??2 million each appearance money , not bad for a couple of days sloppy work !!!
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 15:44
Mr Olsen at -7 after the first 2 rounds didn't seem to have any problems using his new Nike clubs though!
Mind you he's probably not on a hefty appearance fee.
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 16:00
Haha mafia golfer that's funny as out
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 16:05
typical journo use of poetic licence,looking to get the readership up.
Hardly. It's not like I put "OHMYGOD TIGER TOPS FIRST TEE SHOT!" in the headline.
Calm down, champ. Was an honest mistake - just like your "Tiger DQ'd" earlier.
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 17:14
typical journo use of poetic licence,looking to get the readership up.
Hardly. It's not like I put "OHMYGOD TIGER TOPS FIRST TEE SHOT!" in the headline.
Calm down, champ. Was an honest mistake - just like your "Tiger DQ'd" earlier.
called jumping the gun AP
assumed ,as i only saw half of his interveiw that he had signed wrong.
like i said .even the best make mistakes .
Posted: 18/01/2013 at 17:37
