Tiger Woods plans to unveil new putter at PGA Championship

Tiger Woods appears ready to shake up his golf bag with a putter switch when he tees it up Thursday at the PGA Championship in San Francisco.

Woods reportedly will switch to a different version of the Scotty Cameron Newport II he has used for most of his career. He played a nine-hole practice round on Wednesday at TPC Harding Park, and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker witnessed Woods trying out a different Cameron putter.

"I asked him about the putter switch," Stricker said. "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.

"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 reportedly has had the putter since last summer and often practices with it while gauging green speeds.

Woods played an 18-hole practice round on Sunday and nine more holes on Monday. He practiced on the putting green and range on Tuesday before Wednesday's round with Stricker. He went back to the putting green after the round.

Woods reportedly used the Newport II during 14 of his 15 major victories. The exception was the 1997 Masters, as Woods first used the model in 1999.

Woods won the 2019 Masters for his first major victory since the memorable 2008 US Open when he out-dueled Rocco Mediate in 91 holes at Torrey Pines. He is three behind Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 Grand Slam victories.

Stricker said he is interested in seeing how Woods fares this week.

"I expect good things from him if he can keep his body playable," said Stricker, referencing the back issues Woods often faces. "With this weather, it's a challenge. It's cool, it's damp, and so I imagine that will probably be the biggest challenge for him this week is to be able to feel like his body is 100 percent and give it a rip."

—Field Level Media via Reuters