Tiger Woods doesn't get fired up about much outside of his own golf game, but the USGA set him off on Sunday. After watching what happened to Dustin Johnson as USGA officials alerted him -- seven holes late -- of a potential penalty on the 12th hole at the U.S. Open, Woods went nuts while watching. He then joined Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler and tweeted his ire towards the USGA.
Some great golf by @DJohnsonPGA all week, strong way to finish overcoming that rules farce. Happy Father's Day to DJ and all of you.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) June 20, 2016
He talked about the whole thing on Wednesday.
"I watched," said Woods. "It was awful because no one knew what was going on. D.J. didn't know how he stood. The rest of the guys ahead of him didn't understand what was going on. No one had a clue. Am I tied for the lead or am I leading the tournament? Am I one back or am I tied? No one understood where they stood in the tournament so that determines what you're going to do."
It's such a great point, and you could sense all of that on the grounds of Oakmont. It was pandemonium.
"It wasn't a matter of integrity," said Woods. "It was a matter of getting the ruling right. If you have a rules official there, I thought it was binding, his decision. Whatever he decides, he decides. I didn't understand how they could say, 'We're going to take you in, we may or may not assess you a penalty. You still have six holes to go, but who knows who's leading the U.S. Open.' I didn't see how that was appropriate."
Woods is right in this respect. The entire fiasco was discussed and handled on the fifth green and should have been put to bed right then and there.
"It was frustrating to watch how it was handled," said Woods. "That championship being our national title and the history behind it, it deserved a better handling of the situation. I'm a little bit feistier than Dustin so I think I would have said a few more things during the round."
I have no doubt of that.
