Tiger Woods Using New TaylorMade Driver At Hero World Challenge
The 15-time Major winner was pictured hitting the new unreleased TaylorMade driver in practice for his return at the Hero World Challenge
Tiger Woods makes his eagerly anticipated comeback this week at the Hero World Challenge and it appears he'll be doing so with a new driver.
Woods spoke to the media on Tuesday morning before heading out to the course at Albany in The Bahamas, where he was pictured with the new TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver - the same model used by both Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood at the DP World Tour Championship earlier in the month.
Not much is known about the driver just yet, other than details recorded on the USGA's List of Conforming Driver Heads. It has a carbon face, like the TaylorMade Stealth and Stealth 2 drivers, as well as a speed pocket and a sliding fade/draw weight to adjust shot shape.
Woods looks to have his Qi10 LS set up in the fade position, and he has also turned up this week with a new driver shaft. The 15-time Major winner previously had the Ventus Black 6 X model in his Stealth Plus driver but has switched into a Graphite Design Tour AD-VF shaft this week.
Other TaylorMade pros in the stacked 20-man Hero World Challenge field include World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, who may also have a new TaylorMade driver in the bag this week.
That's because a TaylorMade Qi10 appeared on the USGA Conforming List earlier this week. It looks similar to the LS (low spin, we assume) version but doesn't feature the fade/draw weight port and is listed in 9 and 10.5 degree versions versus the 8, 9 and 10.5 ones of the Qi10 LS.
Woods makes his first start since April this week, after limping out of The Masters prior to the final day's action. He underwent a subtalar fusion surgery following his Augusta withdrawal, which he called a "success".
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"I'm not concerned at all about walking [it]. As I said, I don't have any of the ankle pain that I had with the hardware that's been placed in my foot, that's all gone," he said.
"The other parts of my body, my knee hurts, my back. The forces go somewhere else. Just like when I had my back fused, the forces have to go somewhere. So it's up the chain.
"My game feels rusty, I haven't played in a while. I'm excited to compete and play, and I'm just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven't done it in a while."
While admitting he has pain in other areas now, he did reveal that he hopes to play a tournament a month next year.
Woods goes out at 11.52am ET on Thursday morning alongside close friend Justin Thomas.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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