Georgia’s Augusta National is the home of the prestigious Masters Golf Tournament, arguably the most important golfing event in the country. A very unique situation came about when Tiger Woods, unquestionably the world’s best and probably all-time best golfer, hit a near perfect shot that improbably caromed off the flagpole, ending up in a water hazard, costing him a one-stroke penalty. By rule, the ball was supposed to be dropped at the appropriate crossing point, but subject to a limit of one club length from that spot.

Tiger dropped the ball at a greater distance, double the limit, subjecting himself to an additional one-stroke penalty that golfing officials neglected, possibly intentionally because golfing TV audiences decline significantly when Tiger Woods is not in the field. This infraction could have forced Obama to be disqualified from the remaining Saturday and Sunday rounds – days with the largest TV audiences. Tiger was spared disqualification because Masters and the powers that be desperately wanted Tiger to continue driving TV ratings on CBS.

Tiger admitted the erroneous placement of the ball, though backward, was for advantage of better turf for the ensuing shot. Tiger knew he did wrong by his admission and therefore should either have withdrawn voluntarily or the not so august Augusta officials should have disqualified him, even though that would be against their financial and viewer interest. Tiger said, “It was pretty obvious, I didn’t drop in the right spot.”

The possible conclusion is that rules are meant for the convenience of the big-money golfdom world. When they say it is about the purity of the game, not about the money; it is about the money. Stars must be protected as well as the iconic Augusta National Green Jacket representing the ultimate golfing Masters Title. Nothing is as pure as made out to be.

Ironically, after all was said and done, Tiger’s former caddie, who was unceremoniously fired after a bitter split, was celebrating with his new winner Adam Scott.

Big government, big business, big Wall Street big organizations – they’re all in the same business of money and go to pains to protect their own while punishing little people (as did golfing officials who arbitrarily penalized simon-pure 14 year old Chinese golfer Guan Tianlang for slow play, the youngest player ever to tee off at the prestigious Masters tournament). The committee – it’s always the committee – granted Tianlang no quarter for his being overwhelmed by being the youngest and only amateur to make the cut in the most prestigious golf tournament in the world. Proving once again the age-old adage, “The innocent will be punished.”