NORTON, Mass. – The famous Scotty Cameron putter from Tiger Woods was back in the bag for the opening round of The Northern Trust, even though last week he did not get a job in practice.
At the PGA Championship, Woods opted for another model putter that was slightly longer and had adjustable weights on the sole. That extra length, he said, allowed him to exercise longer because it reduced some of the tension on his fused back.
Woods had only one solid put round at TPC Harding Park and eventually never contested it, exchanging for 37th. Last week, at home in South Florida, Woods still did not practice with his usual Newport 2 GSS, instead he used the new putter like an old Wilson 8802.
“I alternate back and forth between all of these,” he said. “I really practice with my 8802 probably the most because I feel the feeling of being let go and I like to sit with my right hand,” he said. “That’s basically my training aid, and then I went to a longer putter to get more reps inside.”
But then he appeared at TPC Boston with his usual Cameron, the one with whom he won 14 of his 15 majors?
‘Just idiosyncrasies, I think,’ he said, smiling.
Woods hit well Thursday, taking 29 putts and ranking 22nd in range of strokes: set when he finished his round of 3-under 68. He felt comfortable over the ball and thought he had the very good pace on the faster greens.
Yet the dilemma remains: Woods competes with one putter but practices with others.
So, he was asked: Why not just scrounge your gamer again?
“That’s a thought,” he said. ‘I’ve been thinking about it, but I do not know. I just can not do it. I have re-registered it. I sent it to Scotty to build the hosel because I threw it a few times. But I never removed the shaft. That’s the same shaft the last 21 years. ”
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