I was trying to save Tiger Woods from being disqualified” – How ex-rules official saved 5x Masters champ amidst huge 2013 scandal

Tiger Woods had a controversial outing in his 2013 Masters performance. He took a tie for the lead into a hole and sent a ball so well that it hit off the flagstick and rolled back into the hazard, forcing him to take a drop. He did so improperly, and he admitted to it later inadvertently. This caught the attention of former rules official David Eger.Eger later would say that he replayed it in his mind three or four times before he made a call on it. He said via Talk Sport:“I’m looking at something knowing there’s no divot hole when he played the [original] shot. And then there was a divot hole when he dropped. I could see that. And that’s why I kept replaying it to make sure. I hesitated on calling simply because I knew how controversial it was going to be.”Ultimately, Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods, and Eger did not want to be the one who got the greatest golfer perhaps of all time removed from the prestigious tournament:”If it would have been Joe Schmo, I would have called in, too. It didn’t matter. I was trying to save the player from being disqualified.”It proved to be a rather massive scandal at the time, but things worked out fine thanks to Eger’s role in the situation.