Tiger Woods avoided possible disqualification from the Masters on Saturday when he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for taking an improper drop during Friday's second round.

The World No 1, a hot favourite at Augusta National where he is a four-times champion, earned his reprieve after being reviewed by officials for a penalty drop he took at the par-five 15th.

Woods suffered a freakish bounce with his third shot at the hole when his approach struck the flagstick before ricocheting backwards off the green and then down the slope into Rae's Creek.

Instead of going to the drop area on the far side of the water, he chose to play his fifth shot from the same place as his third, going two yards back before getting up and down from there to salvage a bogey six.

Woods finished the second round at three under par but his score was changed to one-under, after the penalty, leaving five shots behind halfway leader Jason Day.

The World No 1, bidding for a fifth green jacket at Augusta National, later told reporters: “I went back to where I played it from, but I went two yards further back and I took, tried to take, two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit.”

Photograph: Stanley Chou/Getty Images