Tiger’s Pull Cut Versus Rory’s Draw. Which Tee Shot Will Prevail?
Both players are using various iterations of the Nike Covert 2.0 Tour driver but in Dubai Rory McIlroy is playing a “balls out†fully committed draw while Tiger is trying to engineer what he calls a ‘pull cut’ off the tee.
Rory’s shot shape is a product of confidence, having found some swing keys with Michael Bannon after the last years Fed Ex Cup and finally discovered a driver ball combo that produces the spin rates to allow him to hit fairways again. That was evidenced by his high hanging drawn tee shots travelling on average 316 yards in round one. Rors is so comfortable with his swing right now, that he only arrived on the range 20 minutes before his round two tee time to work on feel.
Tiger’s oxymoronical ‘pull cut’ tee shot on the other hand is an engineered cut shot, designed to remove the left hand side of the golf course from every shot. It needs to be constantly worked on. Tiger is muscle bound, the swing is shorter, more compact. That spin through impact of his youth is gone in order to protect further injury to his already damaged leg. Compared to McIlroy, Tiger was on the range working on his drive one hour before his tee time in Dubai.
The ball doesn’t travel for Tiger as far as Rory’s draw, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Engineered or no, a cut is traditionally a more reliable shot shape than a draw and Tiger may have bigger things on his mind with this driving style. Is he working on the shape thinking that this might be the shot that sets up his next Major victory?
If both men do make it to the business end of the tournament on Sunday in Dubai it will be interesting to see how both styles hold up when pressure is applied. Which will prevail? The natural draw or the engineered cut?
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