You may be right - and for sure, I don’t think he did anything wrong on the drop intentioanlly. I mean, he knew the entire world was watching....he knew that given the bizarre bounce, all who were not watching would surely see the replay. Golf rules are not always that easy to understand, and they do change somewhat from course to course.
I think he made a mistake, and I think 4 shot penalty is punishment enough. I just don’t buy the intentional cheat argument from an intellectual standpoint. It makes no sense.
1: The drop, as seen by the rules commitee after the fact; one could easily imagine that the player, having hit his ball into the hazard, looked at the three options available and decided to return to the spot from which the original stroke was taken. Without the player having left a marker (tee etc.), the rules officials made the correct decision that the player made his best effort to drop his ball as close as possible to where the original stroke was taken; and the replay did not prove otherwise.
After all, there may have been multiple divots in the approximate area and the rules committee would assume that a professional player would make the best effort to hit from the same spot. No infraction, no additional penalty
2) The player, after having looked at the 3 options available, decided to drop from the same spot that the original shot was taken and then decided that he could move further back on the same line using the available remedy in what would be option 2(in a line where the ball last crossed the hazard no lcoser to the hole etc.); thereby confusing two options.
Now let's examine option 2, what really happened, if we change one little fact. Put the original lie 2' - 3' down the edge of a downslope on the fairway. Moving back 3' puts replay on a flat area. For the average golfer, that 3' back is the difference between a low screamer and an easy lob. Not so much for a professional, but we all play under the same rules. Moving the ball in the imaginary case I have described is a reason for a DQ.
Had Tiger kept his mouth shut and said he played from where he thought his shot was, then the committee's decision would seem prescient. However, moving the drop spot to improve your chance of making a good shot is a violation of the rules that any professional player or caddy should never allow.
Frankly, when I got in last night and saw the interview, I was shocked that the number one player in the world thought he could improve his lie on a penalty shot, because that's exactly what he did, no question about it. The rules committee made an awful ruling after they knew about the violation. They sould have asked him to withdraw and if he declined, then DQ'd him (and sent him back to Q school to learn the rules)