Ferguson On Flogging (Or Lack Of?)

Doug Ferguson warned me that he wasn't buying into the flog branding that has been sticking to certain players, and he wrote about it in this dispatch from Bay Hill.

"If you hit the ball a long way, you should be reasonably accurate," [Ernie Els] said. "Not one player on tour has the philosophy of just going out and hitting all over the place. It might work out that way, but we try and aim and get it in the fairway and give yourself the best opportunity to make birdie."

It looks that way at times, especially considering the driving statistics.

Woods is hitting 47.9 percent of his fairways, which puts him at No. 179 in driving accuracy. The feeling is that big hitters blast away, believing it's easier to hit the green with a wedge in the rough than a 7-iron from the fairway.

But that isn't always the case.

Woods had a solid week off the tee at Doral, even if the statistics don't bear that out. He rarely missed the wrong side of a fairway, sometimes dribbling into the first cut or barely into the rough, but usually leaving himself the perfect angle to approach the pin.

He and his caddie, Steve Williams, went over his drives and found that Woods was in the first cut 13 times.

"If you add that into the fairway mix, it's not that bad," Woods said. "So it depends on your perspective. I feel like I'm driving the ball much better now than I was earlier in the year, because things we've been working on are starting to come together."