Roundup: "Traditionalist" Tiger Not A Fan Of Long Putter

Doug Ferguson leads with Tiger Woods' disdain for the long putter and by default, the act of bracing (sort of).

Woods said Tuesday at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am he has "never been a fan" of long putters that players either anchor into their belly or the broom-style putters that are pressed against the chest.

"I believe it's the art of controlling the body and club and swinging the pendulum motion," Woods said. "I believe that's how it should be played. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to that."

Steve Elling, on Tiger's bold pronouncement during Tuesday's pre-AT&T National Pro-Am presser and revelation that he's been talking to Peter Dawson for many years about the exact wording of a long putter ban.

"My idea was to have it so that the putter would be equal to or less than the shortest club in your bag. I think with that we'd be able to get away from any type of belly anchoring. 

"You can still anchor the putter like Bernhard Langer did, against the arm. But that's still the art of swinging the club, too, at the same time."

It might be tempting to blow off Woods' remarks, but when he speaks, things tend to happen. By way of example, when Woods said he was in favor of drug testing, the PGA Tour stopped dragging its feet and implemented a new screening system within months. He asked for a shorter season in 2005, and got it when the FedEx Cup series was adopted soon thereafter.

"I think you can get away from the belly or the long putter by that type of wording, whether or not they do it or not," Woods said. "Peter's looked into it for a number of years, trying to get it to work, and you [would] actually measure everybody's sand wedge and putter before you go out and play."

Brian Wacker has the other non-long putter highlights from Tiger's Tuesday press conference and the story is accompanied by a one-on-one with Sirius XM's Fred Albers.