Tiger Woods has been given a two-stroke penalty at the Masters, avoiding the threat of disqualification.

Woods suggested his second-round drop at the 15th was taken "two yards away" from the original position, which should have incurred a two-stroke penalty, one more than his final score.

That would mean he had signed an incorrect scorecard, for which the penalty is usually disqualification.

He instead begins round three on one under, five behind leader Jason Day.

Four-time Masters winner Woods, who at one stage shared the lead with Day on Friday, was unlucky to find trouble at the 15th when his approach hit the pin and rolled back into the water.

He returned to where he played the original stroke, eventually carding a six at the par-five hole, but revealed in his post-round news conference that he may have dropped the ball further away than permitted.

"I went down to the drop area, that wasn't going to be a good spot, because obviously it's into the grain," said the 37-year-old.

"And it was a little bit wet. So it was muddy and not a good spot to drop.

"So I went back to where I played it from, but I went two yards further back.

"I tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit - that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back."

However, the United States Golf Association rule 26-1a states that a player must take their drop "as nearly as possible at the spot from which the original ball was last played".

Masters officials reviewed the incident on Saturday and concluded that Woods had indeed contravened the rules of the game, but that his punishment would be the two-shot penalty rather than expulsion from the tournament.

Woods is a 14-time major winner, but has not won one of golf's biggest prizes since the 2008 US Open.

In 2009, revelations about his private life, coupled with a battle against injuries, started a slump that eventually saw the American lose the world number one ranking in October 2010.

He slipped as low as number 58, but returned to the top spot in March after victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Woods began his quest for a fifth Green Jacket with an opening round of 70 and had picked up three shots during Friday's second round before he slipped up at the 15th.

He followed that by three-putting the last to drop another shot, ending on three under for the tournament.

Woods is not to be the first player to face sanctions at this year's Masters.

Chinese 14-year-old Guan Tianlang was given a one-stroke penalty for slow play on Friday.

When asked about that decision, Woods replied: "Well, rules are rules."

- BBC