Tiger Woods has a new putter for the PGA Championship, and the change could be due to lingering back pain

• Tiger Woods put a new putter in his bag heading into the PGA Championship.
• Steve Stricker, who played a practice round with Woods ahead of the tournament, said he made the switch to allow for more flexibility and comfort.
• Woods has dealt with lingering back issues through the back half of his career, and the extra length on his new putter could help keep him comfortable throughout the round.

Tiger Woods is making a change heading into the PGA Championship.

Throughout the week leading up to the tournament, Woods has been testing out a new Scotty Cameron putter that allows him to make a few more adjustments and offers some extra length that could help Woods better navigate some of his lingering back issues.

Steve Stricker, who played with Woods during his practice round on Wednesday, said the change shouldn't be too significant for the Big Cat.

"It's basically the same putter with a bit more flexibility. He's able to change the weights around a little bit, but the length is the difference," Stricker said. "He's got a little more length on there, and that's just so he can practice a little bit more without back pain. That's what excites him the most is that he was able to put in a lot of time with this putter, and watching him putt, it looked exactly the same to me. He rolled the ball great."

Woods has only played one event since golf came back from suspending the season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After barely making the cut at the Memorial Tournament, Woods gave a rather candid response about his aging and health.

"Aging is not fun," Woods said. "Early on in my career, I thought it was fantastic because I was getting better and better and better. Now I'm just trying to hold on."

Woods hadn't looked very comfortable throughout his second round at Memorial, and when asked about his back issues, said "It's going to happen more times than not."

With his putter switch, Woods will hopefully be able to play a bit more comfortably throughout the PGA Championship this weekend.

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