WACHOVIA NOTEBOOK

CHARLOTTE – Tiger Woods ended an otherwise nondescript performance at the Wachovia Championship yesterday when he left the grounds ticked off after a two-shot penalty cost him a Top-10 finish at the Quail Hollow Club.

Woods birdied No. 18, his final hole of the week, by sinking a long putt to finish what appeared to be 4-under for the tournament. But a rules official penalized him two shots for moving a temporary fence on No. 10.

“He wasn’t very happy,” PGA Tour tournament director Mark Russell said. “Tiger is a competitor, and I totally understood he wouldn’t be happy. We have to play by the rules. It’s not a pleasant situation, but we have to play golf under the rules.”

According to Russell, Woods moved a “temporary immovable structure” in order to make a swing.

“An obstruction is a movable obstruction if it may be moved without unreasonable effort, without undue delay or without causing damage, otherwise it’s an immovable obstruction,” Russell quoted the rule book. “Tiger thought it was movable, but the fence was spiked in the ground and the fence was screwed together. They broke a section in order for him to play.”

Woods ended up finishing in a tie for 11th.

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The largest blown third-round lead in PGA Tour history was a rather high-profile one: Greg Norman‘s agonizing collapse at the 1996 Masters, which was stolen by Nick Faldo.

Sergio Garcia equaled that yesterday, blowing a six-shot lead over three players through three rounds and bowing out of the tournament after the first playoff hole.

Garcia began the day at 12-under, leading Vijay Singh, D.J Trahan and Jim Furyk by six shots.

Garcia’s downfall was a 7-iron tee shot that landed in the water on 17 while he was clinging to a one-shot lead over Singh.