Tiger Woods is making his comeback at the Hero World Challenge with a new TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver, the same model used by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, and a new driver shaft, switching from the Ventus Black 6 X model to a Graphite Design Tour AD-VF shaft.
At Glance
‣ Tiger Woods is making a comeback at the Hero World Challenge with a new driver, the TaylorMade Qi10 LS, the same model used by Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood at the DP World Tour Championship.
‣ The new driver features a carbon face, a speed pocket, and a sliding fade/draw weight to adjust shot shape. Woods has his Qi10 LS set up in the fade position and has also switched to a new driver shaft, the Graphite Design Tour AD-VF.
‣ Other TaylorMade pros in the Hero World Challenge field, such as World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, may also be using a new TaylorMade driver.
‣ Woods is making his first start since April after undergoing a subtalar fusion surgery. Despite admitting to pain in other areas, he revealed plans to play a tournament a month next year.
Tiger Woods is making a comeback, and it’s happening this week at the Hero World Challenge. The buzz is he’ll be swinging with a new driver.
On Tuesday, Woods had a chat with the media before heading out to the Albany course in The Bahamas. He was spotted with a shiny new TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver – the same one Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood used at the DP World Tour Championship earlier this month.
What do we know about this driver? Not a whole lot, except for some details from the USGA’s List of Conforming Driver Heads. It’s got a carbon face, like the TaylorMade Stealth and Stealth 2 drivers. Plus, it has a speed pocket and a sliding fade/draw weight to adjust shot shape.
Woods seems to have his Qi10 LS set up in the fade position. And that’s not all – he’s also shown up this week with a new driver shaft. The 15-time Major winner used to have the Ventus Black 6 X model in his Stealth Plus driver. But this week, he’s switched to a Graphite Design Tour AD-VF shaft. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Other TaylorMade pros in the stacked 20-man Hero World Challenge field include World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa. They might also have a new TaylorMade driver in the bag this week. Why? Because a TaylorMade Qi10 appeared on the USGA Conforming List earlier this week.
This Qi10 looks similar to the LS (low spin, we assume) version. But it doesn’t have 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. (Image credit: USGA)
Woods is making his first start since April this week. He had to limp out of The Masters before the final day’s action. Post-Augusta, he underwent a subtalar fusion surgery, which he called a “success”.
“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.”
Woods admitted his 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.” He confessed to having pain in other areas now, but he did reveal that he hopes to play a tournament a month next year.
Woods is set to tee off at 11.52am ET on Thursday morning. He’ll be playing alongside his close friend Justin Thomas.
