BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — Tiger Woods first tried the shot in competition during the third round at the Memorial, choking up on the grip of his driver about 2 inches, and he pulled it off to perfection.
He used it again on the eighth hole Thursday in the first round of the AT&T National.
It soon might become a regular part of his repertoire, much like the "stinger" he made popular with a 2-iron and later a 3-wood.
Woods said he began working on the shot a few months ago, and the idea is to give him a range that is a little less than a full driver, and a little more than a full 3-wood.
The eighth hole played 341 yards on Thursday, a slightly elevated green that makes it nearly impossible to drive, but Woods wanted to take the bunkers out of play.
"A full driver I felt would get me too far down there, and 3-wood couldn't take the bunkers out of play," he said. "So it's nice to have a little bit of a tweener. I drop down and hit just this little softy cut out there. It's a lot further than my 3-wood, but it's nowhere near a full driver, and I can keep that in play."
It worked to perfection, at least off the tee. Woods came up short with his wedge, however, and had to scramble for par from the front of the green.
On the par-5 fifth hole at Muirfield Village last month, he felt enough breeze in his face that he figured 3-wood wasn't enough to get beyond the tree-lined portion of the fairway, yet driver was too much because of a stream. He choked up on that driver, landed the ball in an ideal spot and made an easy birdie.
BRITISH OPEN RACE: U.S. Open runner-up Ricky Barnes took a step toward making it to the British Open, as did Bryce Molder.
There are two ways for PGA Tour players to qualify for the British Open at the AT&T National - as the top two players from a special money list that ends this week, or as the leading player from among the top five. In both cases, it's only for those not already eligible.
Barnes is second on the special money list of six tournaments - The Players Championship, Memorial, St. Jude Classic, U.S. Open, Travelers Championship and AT&T National. He opened with a 70.
Paul Goydos, the leader of that money list, opened with a 73 and was in danger of missing the cut. Also in the chase are John Mallinger (70), Matt Bettencourt (70) and Kevin Na (71).
Molder is $20,000 behind Barnes, and it helped that he opened with a 64.
