CARLSBAD, Calif. — Tiger Woods knew at the top of his backswing on No. 10 during yesterday morning’s World Match Play Championships quarterfinal round that he was in trouble.

He wasn’t sure, however, of the exact consequences.

Woods, 1-down to Scotsman Paul Lawrie as the two played No. 10, drove his tee shot under a tree in the right rough. This is where things got hairy.

Lawrie had already safely hit his approach shot onto the green. Woods, swinging from under the tree, clipped a branch on his backswing, breaking it and knocking down a pine cone. As Woods began to accelerate through the rest of his swing, though, he suddenly stopped.

Woods backed off and, knowing he’d broken a rule, called over a rules official.

The official confirmed that Woods had violated Rule 13-2 of the Rules of Golf. The penalty for match play is loss of the hole, meaning Woods was now two holes behind Lawrie. In stroke play, it would have been a two-stroke penalty.

Rule 13-2 deals with “improving lie, area of intended swing or line of play.”

It states that “a player shall not improve or allow to be improved the area of his intended swing.” The player cannot improve his swing plane “by moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed (including immovable obstructions and objects defining out of bounds.”

Despite falling 2-down to Lawrie, Woods came back to halve the 11th hole before winning the next three holes and eventually the match.