[G50]

There is no question - ZERO - that he should be disqualified.

The ONLY reason he wasn't disqualified is because he's Tiger, and if he's not there on Saturday and Sunday ratings drop off the chart.

So, it's about ratings and money.

Here it is in layman's terms:

1. He took an illegal drop. There is no question about that.

(In simplest terms, he hit the ball into the water, and therefore had to drop and play another ball. He was required to drop it as near as possible to the original spot. He admitted on tape that he intentionally dropped it 6 feet further back from the original spot in order to get an advantage (he wanted to hit the second ball 6 feet shorter than the first one).)

2. Because of the illegal drop, he should have given himself a 2 stoke penalty.

3. He didn't add the 2 strokes. Therefore, when he signed and turned in his scorecard, it was an inaccurate card (it was 2 strokes less than it should be).

4. The penalty for turning in an incorrect scorecard (one that is too low) is DQ.

Now, before 2012 there would be no question, he'd DQ'd. There'd be no way the PGA could give him an improper "free pass."

But a new rule in 2012:

"Decision 33-7/4.5 addresses the situation where a player is not aware he has breached a Rule because of facts that he did not know and could not reasonably have discovered prior to returning his score card. Under this revised decision and at the discretion of the Committee, the player still receives the penalty associated with the breach of the underlying Rule, but is not disqualified.''

That's what they're using to give him a free pass. Which is obviously not applicable, because (1) this involves facts, not rules. And (2) while Tiger claims he didn't know the rule, the rule ALSO requires that he "could not reasonably have discovered prior to returning his score card."

Obviously, there were no facts involved here that Tiger did not know AND could not have reasonably known. Players are responsible for knowing the rules, and are charged with that knowledge.

That new rule is for completely different situations, not for one where a player violates a rule because he doesn't know the rule.

It's for a situation where, for example, play is officially stopped (like for weather), but a player on a far away hole keeps playing because it was impossible for him to hear the horn halting play.

It's funny watching the press conference and the Augusta rules guys talk about "integrity," etc., but then dodge the issue.

Now, should Tiger voluntarily withdraw? That's a tougher question. Tiger isn't responsible for rulings, just for following the rules and rulings. So in a way, if he said "I'll respect the ruling of the Committee and do what they say to do, that's their job," it's arguably hard to criticize that.

But when it's so obvious they are breaking their own rules to make an exception for financial gain . . . I don't know.

And, another issue is he broke a rule, and by doing so got an advantage. It certainly puts a cloud on him.

IMO, players like Bobby Jones, and a lot of current PGA players, would DQ themselves. It doesn't surprise me that Tiger won't.