There s nothing you can call a golfer worse than a cheater, Steinberg said. This is the most deplora

Brandel Chamblee makes a living out of forming controversial, often polarizing opinions to drive discussion and discourse in the golf world. Let s get one thing straight, I generally have a lot of respect flamingo hotel in las vegas for Brandel because flamingo hotel in las vegas he knows exactly what he s doing and at least he has a point of view that results in lively debate, like in this case, but this piece threw me off a bit.
In a Golf.com column where Brandel hands out end-of-the-season grades to the top players in the world , the Golf Channel broadcaster and frequent critic of Tiger Woods gave the world no. 1 golfer an F. That s not Chamblee s crime in this case after all, he s entitled to his own opinion rather he goes on and implies that Woods is a cheater:
Tiger Woods:  When I was in the fourth grade, I cheated on a math test and when I got the paper back it had 100 written at the top and just below the grade, was this quote, Oh, what a tangled flamingo hotel in las vegas web we weave when first we practice flamingo hotel in las vegas to deceive! It was an oft-quoted line from the epic poem Marmion by Sir Walter Scott, and my teacher s message flamingo hotel in las vegas was clear. Written once more beneath flamingo hotel in las vegas that quote was my grade of 100 , but this time with a line drawn through it and beneath that an F. I never did ask my teacher how she knew I cheated and I certainly didn t protest flamingo hotel in las vegas the grade. I knew I had done the wrong thing and my teacher the right, but I never forgot the way I felt when I read that quote.
I remember when we only talked flamingo hotel in las vegas about Tiger s golf. I miss those days. He won five times and contended in majors and won the Vardon Trophy and how shall we say this was a little cavalier with the rules.*
What s the problem? He didn t call him a cheater, as he reminds us of Tiger s strange year. Well, here s where Brandel crosses the line actually, that entire first paragraph offends me but it s the asterisk that denotes flamingo hotel in las vegas all the controversial rules incidents flamingo hotel in las vegas Woods was involved with this past season:
*Tiger's rule controversies in 2013 included  taking an illegal free drop at the Abu Dhabi Championship ,  avoiding disqualification at the Masters despite signing an incorrect scorecard following an illegal drop ,  giving himself a favorable drop after hitting into a water hazard at the Players Championship , and  a two-stroke penalty for causing his ball to move while removing a twig resting against it at the BMW Championship .
Firstly, he did take an illegal free drop at the Abu Dhabi Championship , but that was an innocent mistake. Tiger s ball was embedded in what appeared to be a vegetated area, which is free relief on the PGA Tour. He conferred with playing partner Martin Kaymer about the drop and Kaymer agreed that Woods should get relief. Then, later in the round, rules officials approached Woods because flamingo hotel in las vegas they thought it was actually a sandy area (under the vines), in which case Woods shouldn t have received the drop. Afterwards, Tiger watched flamingo hotel in las vegas footage of the drop in the TV truck with officials and said he believed it was sand and took the two-shot penalty without argument. The only thing Tiger is guilty of in this case was being careless and not calling over a rules official to triple-check.
Second of all, he avoided DQ at the Masters after taking an illegal drop , but a fellow rules official and former player turned out to be the mysterious caller who notified Augusta National officials and the Masters competitions chairman reviewed the drop and deemed it to be legal, which is why Woods was not disqualified and given the two-shot flamingo hotel in las vegas penalty instead. Basically, Woods called attention to his illegal drop in a television interview following his round. Whoops. He had a few brain farts in that second round.
Next, Tiger s drop on no. 14 in the final round of The Players Championship , which he ended up winning for the second time in his career, was rather questionable, especially when a TV graphic compared the spot where Tiger dropped to the other players who had pulled it in the same hazard at TPC Sawgrass s Stadium Course.
The rule is you re supposed to drop the ball where the ball last crossed the hazard, which is hard to determine exactly. Woods drop was questioned because it was much further ahead of where other people watching thought it last crossed the hazard line, but his playing partner Casey Wittenberg vouched for Tiger and told him he thought it crossed at the point where Woods dropped. (Later Wittenberg was asked about it and he was so adamant flamingo hotel in las vegas that it was correct that he seemed offended as if his integrity were being questioned, as well.) I never competed in front of thousands of people and a bunch of TV cameras, but usually in my competitive experience, that was good enough for me or anyone else in the field.
Finally , Tiger thought his ball oscillated at the BMW Championship and did not move (and he was quite bullish with that stance ). However, when you watch the replay and I didn t even need the slo-mo, super-HD version to see that the ball moved positions of the shot in question, it did indeed move the slightest bit, not merely oscillate. Does that cause people to question his integrity? Sure. But good chance he really just thought it oscillated and maintained that position because he was offended people questioned his integrity.
Woods made a lot of hare-brained mistakes in 2013 and didn t win any majors, but he still won five regular events, including The PGA Tour s flagship event and two World Golf Championships. To call his encounters with the rules curious is one thing, but to strongly imply that Tiger is a  full-on cheater on the golf course, or rather cavalier with the rules is another.
I have a lot of respect for Brandel and his schtick is to give a strong opinion that isn t always the most popular unlike a fair number of his colleagues that are yes-men to everyone and everything but this time the analyst may have gone a little too far.
There s nothing you can call a golfer flamingo hotel in las vegas worse than a cheater, Steinberg said. This is the most deplorable thing I have seen. I m not one for hyperbole, but this is absolutely disgusting. Calling him a cheater? I ll be shocked, stunned if something is not done about this. Something has to be done.
This is, Hey, look at me, in its lowest form, Steinberg said in his statement. Brandel flamingo hotel in las vegas Chamblee s comments are shameful, baseless flamingo hotel in las vegas and completely out of line. In his rulings, Tiger voiced his position, accepted his penalty and moved on. There was no intention to deceive anyone. Chamblee s uninformed and malicious opinions, passed on as facts, and his desperate attempt to garner attention, is deplorable.
There needed to be more context with the asterisk and the Hey look at me, part goes without saying. I mean, I like Brandel, but he really graded himself? C mon, man, really? I might have more of a problem with that display of hubris than his accusations against Tiger!
It s slanderous, it s defamation, said one prominent caddie familiar with all the parties involved (with exception of Chamblee because he says Brandel is the one TV guy who doesn t come to the range to ask the caddies and players questions). It s one thing to say you dislike his swing or don t think he s a clutch putter anymore, but it s on a much different and much lower level to label him a cheat.
flamingo hotel in las vegas This caddie has exchanged texts with Tiger s camp and as you can tell by Steiny s comments, he confirms they are beyond unhappy. Again, like I said, this might be exactly the reaction Brandel and his editors were striving for hey, we re all talking about it, right?
The entire point of the 4th grade story was to label Tiger a cheater with the way he did his grade. And now he can try to hide behind semantics. Feels very used car salesman. Chamblee has clearly turned into the golf channels version of Skip Bayless (although I wouldn t be surprised if GC wasn t all that happy right now with Chamblee).
For one pro golfer to have 4 major rule violations, all in large events speaks volumes to me. Clearly Tiger, nor his caddy know the rules of golf as well as you would think a player of his caliber should or would, since this is his chosen profession.
In every case, Tiger could have summoned a rules official at time of the indecision, and received help. He did not, whether just due to clear arrogance or ignorance. Tiger s record is tarnished by his own lack of knowledge of the rules.
Brandel Chamblee does a great job, in his role, as a GC analyst, one of the only guys to play on tour for quite a number of years in almost all of the major events on tour. He has been in the trenches and knows his craft. I think his article is on point and does put focus where it should be, on Tiger s decision making and his team s lack of rule knowledge. It s a shame and the August rules chairman only made his decision to improve ratings. They could not DQ the most loved and hated man in golf, who is also the number one player in the world. I wonder flamingo hotel in las vegas what his father would say to all this missteps flamingo hotel in las vegas in one season?
The only sensible comment to date. This is a terribly flamingo hotel in las vegas unfair and sad piece by ms.w, yet again. Unfair on a more skilled fellow traveller , and unfair on all who believe in facts and analysis rather than self-serving posturing.
Hi Steph, always love your work and in this incidence I think you have given Tiger the benefit of the doubt to easily. I am in agreeable with a number of other posts and I would love to see some stats around how many penalties are called on tour (apart from hazards and unplayables) through the course of 2013 or any year and how many players flamingo hotel in las vegas where guilty more than once. Some of these Tiger infractions are definitely flamingo hotel in las vegas ignorance (which is generally not a legally binding excuse at law) but a couple in my mind are/were blatant cheating by Tiger. Ultimately all golfers have their integrity and reputation and I guess if you don t have these qualities well you have nothing to lose. That penalty drop at TPC was disgusting and that is one that he went on to win . I would suggest if I finished second at the Players in 2013 I would be a little