J.J. Spaun in control in Round 2 at Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

The Masters has long been a staple of spring. If the world shows up this year at Augusta National, it’ll be in November. So how will the course change?

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Tiger Woods is making an equipment switch for Saturday’s edition of Capital One’s The Match, and it just so happens to be the item that golfers use most often. Golf.com first reported that Woods is expected to switch to Bridgestone’s B X golf ball for the next two weeks. As part of a busy December, Woods is scheduled to compete in the PNC Championship alongside son Charlie after Saturday’s match, where he will team with FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy to face Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. Woods, who last competed at The Open in July, had been using a Bridgestone B XS golf ball, which is a softer, higher-spinning ball. Woods has traditionally played a softer ball with more spin to have more variety with his approach shots and around the greens. Artistry with his irons and a myriad of short-game shots have been hallmarks of Woods’ historic career. According to Golf.com, Woods began testing the B X on his at-home simulator and noticed that the ball carried 10 yards farther. The B X is firmer and offers lower flight and spin than the B XS ball. “These are more of an exhibition-type situation, and I think that’s factoring into his decision,” Elliot Mellow, Bridgestone’s golf ball marketing manager, told Golf.com. “So he’ll be a Tour B X player at least for the next few events. He’s been looking at distance and the greenside spin is where it needs to be.” After testing the ball on his simulator, Woods did on-course testing with the ball in The Bahamas before withdrawing from the Hero World Challenge with plantar fasciitis. “The real test was (in the Bahamas during Hero week) where it hit it into different winds and liked the ball flight,” Mellow told Golf.com. “The comments we’ve heard from Tiger and his team is that it’s really cool that if he’s looking for something different, we don’t have to go out and build him a specific ball. He can just go to something we’re already making that’s on the retail shelf.” Bridgestone expects Woods to return to the B XS ball when he returns to official competition in the new year, however. “The Tour B XS is still a ball he helped co-design, and it’s a ball he’ll probably go back to in those situations where he needs more playability and workability in the golf ball,” said Mellow. “We don’t get the impression this is a permanent thing. It’s more situational. He’s chasing distance more than spin for all the obvious reasons.”

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