Tiger Woods did not consider pulling out of the Masters after avoiding disqualification

Tiger Woods insisted he did not consider pulling out of the Masters amid the controversy surrounding his two-shot penalty for a rules infringement in the second round.

The world No 1 faced disqualification for taking an illegal drop after finding water at the 15th on Friday, but he was unaware of any wrongdoing when he signed for a one-under 71.
He was summoned by tournament officials on Saturday morning, and it was decided a two-stroke penalty was sufficient punishment under a recently revised rule concerning "trial by TV".

Sir Nick Faldo was one of many high-profile figures calling for Woods to withdraw, but the four-time champion put the distractions to one side and fired a third-round 70 which left him four off the lead.

"I got a text from my agent this morning saying 'Call me,'. It's never a good thing when that happens," said Woods. "They called me in, I got a two-shot penalty, time to play. I made a mistake, I took an improper drop and I got the penalty."

Asked if he thought of withdrawing, Woods added: "No. Under the rules of golf I am abiding by the rules. They made the determination that nothing had happened on Friday and after what I said, things changed."
Ticked

That was a reference to his comment that he had gone "two yards further back" from where he hit his original pitch, which hit the pin on the full and cannoned back into the water.

Woods added: "I wasn't even really thinking. I was still a little ticked at what happened, and I was just trying to figure, okay, I need to take some yardage off this shot.
"That's all I was thinking about was trying to make sure I took some yardage off of it, and evidently, it was pretty obvious, I didn't drop in the right spot."

Woods remained in contention for a fifth Green Jacket after an eventful five-birdie, three-bogey round, and he is confident of putting pressure on the leaders on Sunday.

"It was certainly a distraction early with the routine but it's like anything, it happens and you move on," Woods said. "I was ready to play come game time.

"The day started off obviously different, but I'm right there in the ballgame. I'm four back with a great shot to win this championship."