Tiger Woods is playing in his first tournament of the year in Abu Dhabi and understanding the rules of golf helped him avoid the penalty assessed against playing partner Rory McIlroy.
Tiger is playing steady golf in Abu Dhabi, carding a two under score 70 on day one followed by a three under par 69 to get him to within two shots of the lead. The leader is an unheralded player ranked 171, but the men behind him are some of the world's most famous golfers.
Rory McIlroy, Robert Karlsson, Paul Lowrie and three others are sitting at 139 after two days, but McIlroy could have been at the top of the leaderboard without a mental mistake that cost him dearly.
Playing in a group along with Tiger Woods and Luke Donald, McIlroy's ball sat just off the green on the ninth hole and he mistakenly swept away a bit of sand from his line. It was a large no-no.
As is customary and expected in the game of golf, playing partner Donald pointed it out to Rory and tournament officials were summoned to confirm it, resulting in a two-stroke penalty for McIlroy.
It had to shake him a bit because the putt after the stroke deduction was missed only by a hair, making it a three stroke swing going to the back nine.
The good news about Tiger Woods golf game is that when one part of his arsenal is unavailable or misfiring, other parts are there to take up the slack. In Woods' tough comeback year of 2011, that wasn't the case.
Once his putting went south, his fairways in regulation slumped along with it. Yesterday at Abu Dahbi his short game held up to compensate for him missing more fairways than day one.
In his post-match interview Woods told media that the golf course was getting more difficult, playing faster as the course dried up a bit. He gave himself a good grade for his steady play, mentioning he was pleased with a pick up in his putting stroke.
There was a bit of a flap last week when Woods chose to go to the European tour event rather than stay home and play one of his favorite golf courses in San Diego. It's all about the money and Tiger is not loathe to admit it.
An undisclosed amount was paid to him as an appearance fee, estimated to be near seven figures. Crowds turn out for Woods and every tournament director hopes to be graced with his presence.
Eleven out of the top 25 golfers in the world chose Abu Dhabi over Torrey Pines.
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