THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Stewart Cink did little to quell the age-old joke that Southerners turn to duct tape to fix everything.
With new regulations for grooves to take effect next year, the British Open champion wanted to experiment with clubs that don't spin as much as his current wedges. He took it to the extreme by covering them with duct tape.
"I played a round of golf and practiced with them for a week or so, just to see what it was like with zero spin," Cink said Tuesday. "Because with tape over the wedges - duct tape, in fact - there was no spin. And it was really not fun to play golf that way."
His thought was that using duct tape on his wedge would make him feel like the new wedges produced more spin than they did. That might have worked, but only for a little while.
"I quickly adjusted back to realizing that the new grooves don't spin that great," Cink said.
Cink said equipment companies have had a hard time getting the new grooves to players quickly because of last-minute changes, and he tried out the duct tape while waiting for the new clubs to arrive.
Pat Perez played in the Tuesday pro-am at the Chevron World Challenge with his new wedges and said, "It's a new game."
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, already had conforming grooves with everything but his wedge. The new regulation applies to every club from about the 5-iron (depending on the loft of the club) through the wedge.
Lee Westwood, coming off his second European Tour money title, decided to stick with his old clubs for the Chevron World Challenge. Then again, he's in no rush. Westwood still has all of December and most of January before making his 2010 debut in the Abu Dhabi Championship.
He has tested some clubs and didn't see a significant difference. He said he found himself generating more spin with the new wedges than the clubs he has been using the last three or four months.
Even from the rough?
"I haven't tested them out of the rough, but I tend not to go in there," Westwood said with a laugh.
LPGA, CARIBBEAN STYLE: The LPGA Tour will be trying out a new format in Jamaica next year called "Raceway Golf," which organizers hope will appeal to the purists and attract new fans to golf.
The Mojo 6 has a $1 million purse and will be held April 15-16 at Cinnamon Hill Golf Course in Montego Bay, the first time in two decades that the LPGA has an event in the Caribbean.
Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer and Christina Kim already have signed up for the event.
Raceway Golf pits 16 top players against each other in a series of six-hole matches. On the first day, each player has three six-hole matches to accumulate points. The top eight players advance to the second day and compete in single-elimination, with three matches required to win.
The holes are set up differently each day for players to consider options depending on who they play.
HARRINGTON'S COACH: Padraig Harrington brought his swing coach with him to Sherwood Country Club for his final tournament of the year, unusual only because Bob Torrance doesn't get to these parts every often.
"It's been a long time since he's been in the States," Harrington said. "It's a big trip. He's in his mid-70s now, so it's a lot of effort."
But this is no vacation.
Harrington works at the Titleist Performance Institute in southern California, which uses computer modules to help a player get the most out of his swing. The Irishman essentially has two sets of eyes - a computer and a Scottish coach.
"I want to coordinate the two of them to make sure I'm doing what the golf coach is telling me with what TPI reckons you should be doing with your body," he said. "They all agree, to be honest. It's startling how Bob's teaching would agree completely with what is a computer-generated golf swing. I'm looking forward to seeing how the science meets the man."
And if there's a difference?
"Bob is the man," the three-time major champion said. "At the end of the day, the last say always rests with him."
ANOTHER RENEWAL: Lost amid the coverage of Tiger Woods and his car accident was a piece of good news from the PGA Tour, which announced that John Deere has agreed to a six-year extension as title sponsor of a tour event.
The John Deere Classic is now signed up through 2016.
It was the fifth title sponsor to renew its PGA Tour contract this year, along with adding new title sponsors for Kapalua (SBS Championship) and The Greenbrier.
John Deere has been title sponsor in Moline, Ill., since 1998, and it has generated $30 million for local charities.
CADDIE CHANGE: Christian Donald is at the Chevron World Challenge. His more famous brother, Luke Donald, is not.
Christian Donald, who has been his brother's caddie for most of the decade, said they decided last month to part ways. Luke Donald, a former NCAA champion at Northwestern, has won four times, along with the World Cup with Paul Casey and Tiger Woods' charity event.
"It's been eight years," Christian said. "That was a good run."
He figured their relationship as brothers took precedence over the strain of working with each other inside the ropes. Donald now caddies for Casey.
DIVOTS: Lee Westwood celebrated his stellar season by signing a new multiyear deal with Ping Golf. The biggest change for Westwood is that the Ping logo will return to the front of his cap. ... Vijay Singh started and ended his 2009 season the same way - with knee surgery. The big Fijian, who went winless this year for the first time since 1996, had arthroscopic surgery last week to clean out some cartilage. He had to miss the Chevron World Challenge and a tournament in Australia. ... Royal Cinque Ports will be host of the British Amateur in 2013. It has hosted two Open Championships, the last one in 1920 won by George Duncan.
STAT OF THE WEEK: Lee Westwood started and ended the 2000s by winning the European Tour money title. Both times, he finished ahead of a player from Northern Ireland - Darren Clarke in 2000 and Rory McIlroy in 2009.
FINAL WORD: "There would be no point in you guys writing the actual middle-of-the-road stories, because I wouldn't be reading it. I want to read the high or the low." - Padraig Harrington, who reads stories about all athletes except himself.
Allenby shoots 7-under 65 for 1-shot lead in DubaiCrew depart Columbus for offseason
