As is often the case, Tiger Woods was first again on Thursday, but this time it was not on the leaderboard.
Woods was at the head of the cue to assess his driver under a new testing protocol that the PGA Tour is implementing at the season-opening Mercedes Championship this week.
PHOTO: AP
The Pendulum Tester will be available to players at PGA Tour, Champions Tour and Nationwide Tour events to evaluate their drivers' conformity to the Rules of Golf.
Under the protocol, players may voluntarily test their drivers to determine if the club conforms to a new measure -- characteristic time (CT) -- which replaces the coefficient of restitution (COR) reading used in the past.
"I don't know if it's going to make a difference, but at least we have a test implemented," Woods said of the device developed in a joint effort between the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient in St. Andrews.
"Now, I think obviously in the future it might change, but this is a nice, positive step in the right direction."
Woods has been a proponent of testing on site after questioning certain players' abilities to hit the ball as long as they have in the past few years.
World number two Vijay Singh disagrees with the necessity to test on site.
"I think it should be done by the manufacturers and not the players," Singh said.
"We use their equipment. If there's something wrong with the equipment, I think it's the manufacturer's fault."
While Woods has been the only voluntary player of the 30 in the field to test his driver, the new protocol allows PGA Tour officials to evaluate drivers if a player believes that a particular club is in question.
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