Woods says genie is out of the bag with golf ball debate

Bernie McGuire
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Tiger Woods (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Bernie McGuire

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Tiger Woods has arrived for the defence of his Zozo Championship title drawn into the current debate concerning the excessive distance the golf ball is being driven.

No sooner had Bryson DeChambeau captured the U.S. Open that he was talking about taking time off to test a new driver that he was hoping could send the ball distances of 380-yards.

Ever since the lifting of the golfing lockdown, DeChambeau has been rewriting the PGA Tour record books in terms of ‘Driving Distance’ and it’s not only got the greats of the game worried but it clearly has the administrators of the ancient club-and-ball game concerned.

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Woods was asked his reaction ahead of teeing-up on this week’s Sherwood Country Club course when in a 14-year span from 2000 to 2013 he captured five – now named – Hero World Challenges and also finished runner-up on five occasions.

“They (administrators) should have been worried a long time ago but the genie is out of the bag now,” said Woods.

“It’s now about what we are going to do going forward and how soon can they do it.  They’re not going to stop the guys right now as guys are figuring out how to carry the ball about 320 plus yards and it’s not just a few of them as there are a lot of guys who can do it.

“That’s where the game is going as there is only only a small amount of property we have in altering golf courses.

“I just don’t see how I can roll everything back.  I would like to be able to see that as far as our game, but then we go back down the road of what do you bifurcate, at what level.

“So, that’s a long discussion we’ve had for a number of years, for 20 plus years now and I think it is only going to continue.”

Woods was asked when was the last time he drove a golf ball 350, 360 yards.

He joked: “I can do that on a runway, yeah, no problem.”

 

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