John Feinstein - February 9, 2012

• By Morning Drive Team
• Feb 9, 2012 9:38 AM ET

In response to Tiger’s stance against the long putter and against anchoring the putter, he thinks it is good that he as well as any player comes out on any issue. But he does think that this is an issue at all because technology has repeatedly been behind the evolution of equipment. People have been using long putters for many years and the fact that is more newsworthy right now does not make any more of an issue than it was before. Not everyone is affected by this issue and that is true of any issue. Jack Nicklaus has been campaigning for one golf ball and for limiting the distance on the ball for many years and that is just one example of a player taking a stance on an equipment issue because equipment and the technology involved is so inherent to the game of golf.

If Tiger wins at Pebble and Rory wins in Dubai this week, Tiger’s win would be a bigger deal because he has not won on the PGA TOUR since 2009 and he is not counting the Chevron World Challenge. It would be a great win for Rory if  he won in Dubai but if Tiger wins at Pebble, it will be a huge story because he is Tiger Woods and because it would be the end of long winless drought.

Fred Couples’ use of a blood-spinning procedure that is legal in Germany but not legal in the United States because he went to a place where the procedure is legal. The big question in John’s mind relates to the risk involved. He does not blame Couples for trying something different because the condition of his back is so bad but he is concerned about the risk involved and the fact that he has to go back in for treatment raises a red flag.