Tiger Woods, Ernie Els speak out against new technology

from Sport.telegraph

Woods and Els speak out against spread of new technology
By Lewine Mair
(Filed: 20/07/2004)



Tiger Woods and Ernie Els have called for action to curtail the advance of modern technology.



What worries Woods and Els is the extent to which the best players are finding it harder to separate themselves from the rest. They have been pointing to how so many more professionals are able to stay in touch with the leaders as superior equipment effectively makes up for inferior technique. Lesser players are not being found out as they used to be.

Officials admitted the concerns of Woods, Els and Charles Howell III at yesterday's R & A briefing following the Open, saying their main worries were about large-headed drivers and balls which travel further but spin less and stay straighter.

Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R & A, was inclined to agree with the findings of Woods and Co. He talked of how he had watched 100 or so players on the range at the recent Amateur Championship at St Andrews and found it far harder to pick out the class players than would have been the case 30 years ago.

When the R & A act, they want to get it right and they have to be 100 per cent certain that the part played by new equipment is not exaggerated. Woods himself, as Dawson was saying, has helped to raise the game to new levels, showing the rest what can be done by working on a combination of technique, mind and fitness and strength.

The magic which Woods has so often demonstrated in holing the difficult par putt and his share and more of chips would seem to have proved catching, with the R & A saying that they had never seen so many holed long putts, chips and second shots at an Open.

High up on the list was the second which Davis Love made at the 72nd for an eagle - and the 40-footer which Lee Westwood holed across the home green to snatch Love's fourth place.

Just in case anyone should point to Todd Hamilton as one whose result had most to do with the latest in equipment, it should be remembered that the American was wielding an iron off most tees as he endeavoured to steer clear of Royal Troon's bunkers.

Though Hamilton's hat bears a TaylorMade R7Quad logo, he has not yet switched to this club which, with its movable weights, accounted for 27 of the company's winning total of 61 drivers at Troon. Unlike Goosen, who got everything sorted out in a day or so before winning the US Open and the Smurfit European Open with the implement, Hamilton has still to establish how and where the weights work best for him.

The R7Quad is the latest in drivers and the players would be foolish not to take advantage of it. However, Dawson insists that the equipment issue is not approaching "crisis level" in that everyone, including the manufacturers, has the game's interests at heart.

That said, the ball is very much in the R & A's court - and if they believe some of the wisest men in the game, including Jack Nicklaus, the ball is where they are most likely to find the best answer. Not least in terms of repercussions in the law courts.