From the comments on the TGC website: In an alternate universe, where Tiger did what Chamblee and the rest of the torch and pitchfork crowd demanded and withdrew from the Masters, we would be reading this:
“So Tiger took his ball and went home to sulk, after being assessed a penalty. What a spoiled brat. Jack would have played on, even if he had no chance of winning.”
Doubtful.
Tiger’s statement would have been along these lines:
[QUOTE=Tiger, hypothetically]
Tournament officials have today made me aware that my understanding of the rule was wrong, and I now see that my drop on the 15th hole yesterday merits a 2-stroke penalty. This unfortunately means I signed an incorrect scorecard. The officials feel that because they reviewed my drop and initially felt it was correct, I should not be disqualified.
But what I did was due to ignorance of a rule that it was my responsibility to know. I have thus decided I should accept the normal consequence of signing an incorrect scorecard, which is disqualification. I apologize for causing this problem and look forward to next year’s tournament.
[/QUOTE]
Anyone who claimed to interpret this as going home to sulk would have been laughed at.
I’m laughing at the people who think Tiger deliberately cheated and then bragged about it in his interview, and the people who think that ANGC made up the story about the viewer phone call so they could have an excuse to not DQ Tiger, because they wanted higher ratings. But it hasn’t stopped them from posting their loony conspiracy theories.