PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods’ return this week at The Players was accompanied by a minor equipment tweak.
The world No. 1 was not using a new driver during the first round at TPC Sawgrass; it just looked like it. Woods has swapped out the shafts in his Nike VR Tour driver, returning to the Mitsubishi Diamana White Board shaft that he had used before 2010. For the past few years, he had the Graphite Design AD DI-6X shaft in his driver.
Asked about the switch after his first round, Woods said, “It helps not being hurt. I’m able to generate the speed like I used to, and I’m able to handle that shaft again.”
Woods hit only four drivers in the opening round, when he shot 67. For the day, he hit 10 of 14 fairways, though he did so primarily with a 3- or 5-wood off the tee.
