Martin Dempster: Tiger Woods wins '˜scoop shot of the year'

What a pity that a remarkable year for Tiger Woods ended on a low note. Not that anyone should really care about what is essentially an exhibition event, but 17th in an 18-man field for his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas wasn't how Woods would have wanted to sign off a year that he defied the cynics to return to winning ways.

Tiger Woods in difficulty at the 18th hole during round two of the Hero World Challenge. Pictrue: Rob Carr/Getty Images

Nor would he have wished to be in the spotlight after appearing to produce one of the clearest “scooped shots” ever witnessed as he got down on one knee in the sand to play a shot from under a bush at the 18th hole in the second round.

Even Woods himself admitted that, after watching the slow-motion footage afterwards, he did indeed strike the ball twice. However, he went unpunished due to the rule that came into effect in April last year whereby a breach that can’t be seen with the naked eye can’t later lead to punishment by the use of video evidence.

Anyway, more unedifying about the Hero World Challenge was that the winner, Spaniard Jon Rahm, picked up the same World Ranking points – 48 – as the winner of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and Dubai Desert 
Classic. Come on, how can that 
really be the case?