Tiger's loss is good news for Augusta

The dramatic finish to this year's US Masters, the fairytale conclusion to Adam Scott's quest to win a Major following his last-round collapse in last year's Open and the crowd's vociferous reaction to his victory drowned out the huge sighs of relief emanating from the committee room of Augusta's clubhouse.

Having added a stroke to a 14 year old Chinese amateur's score for taking a few seconds too long over a couple of golf shots - the first penalty of its kind in 17 years - the Master's powers-that-be then shot themselves in the foot by showing Tiger Woods the kind of leniency that the Catholic church has shown some members of its priesthood over the last few decades.

Surely, the golf world's number one golfer is well aware of what happens when his ball goes in the water... as well as the penalty for not following the rules of the game.

And every golfer in the world knows what happens when you sign for the wrong score - which is what Tiger did. You're disqualified. Full stop. End of story. Unless you're Tiger.

The committee dragged out a rule of golf brought in a couple of years ago specifically to address the issue caused by eagle-eyed television viewers watching hi-definition close-ups of televised competitions and reporting the minutest of transgressions that went unnoticed on the course itself.

It recognised that disqualification was too draconian a punishment for instances where players inadvertently incurred penalties when, for example, their ball shifted slightly while their attention was elsewhere.

Desperate to ensure their box-office attraction kept up the viewing figures for all four days of the Masters, the committee invoked this rule. By doing so, it trampled all over the spirit of the game and possibly changed golf forever, with club players demanding a two-shot penalty for signing for a wrong score, rather than accepting disqualification.

That result is bad enough. But what if Tiger had won? What would that have done for the credibility of this particular tournament - possibly the biggest in the world? What would it have done for the integrity of the game as a whole?

This issue would have run and run. Tiger's image would have taken more of a battering. Augusta would have been discredited. Reputations would have been in tatters.

When asked about the one-stroke penalty imposed on the Chinese eighth-grader, which happened on the same day as his own transgression, Wood's response was "Rules are rules."

Apparently, that succinct statement is open to interpretation.