What had Tom Watson never done before Sunday? Won a tournament in Florida.
He took a one-shot victory at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in Lutz, Fla., but it may have had something to do with the cold weather. Temperatures in the low 40s made the five-time British Open champion feel more comfortable.
"I guess after all I've played in Florida it has just never been cold enough. It took Kansas City weather to make it happen," Watson said.
Watson is an Adams Golf staff player, and he carried a 9.5-degree Redline RPM Dual driver, Insight BTY 3-wood, Idea Pro hybrids in 18 and 20 degrees and Idea Pro Forged irons for his win.
Adams has a higher presence on the Champions Tour than other tours. In the last event of the 2006 season the company was first in four equipment categories, and the company's presence continued to be felt Sunday, with three other Adams Golf pros finishing in the top 10: R.W. Eaks (T4), Scott Hoch (T7) and D.A. Weibring (T10).
LENGTH DOESN'T MATTER: Driving distance is where it is at for golfers on the PGA Tour. But how important is increasing distance for the LPGA players?
"I wouldn't even hit it 10 percent or 5 percent further" than in the mid-90s, said Karrie Webb at last week's tour-opening SBS Open at Turtle Bay.
"I don't stand there and measure how far I hit my drive. I know I hit it long enough out here to compete," she said. "If I was a short hitter I know I would be thinking more about it, but I feel like I'm above average. I'm not long out here by any means, but I hit it long enough to compete. I hit short enough irons into holes to play successfully."
Last year's Rolex Player of the Year, Lorena Ochoa, who is working with a new Ping driver in 2007, agreed that she didn't spend much time working on her driving distance.
"I want to say maybe 15 percent," she said.
ODDS AND ENDS: Nissan Open winner Charles Howell III is in love … with his putter. And after his performance last week, why not? "This is the longest I've used a putter since I've turned professional," Howell said. "I switched to this new Odyssey putter last year in Oklahoma. And I have gone the whole off season and the beginning of this season without even ordering another one." ... In the ongoing saga of which driver Phil Mickelson will use at Augusta, it looks like both will be in the bag. "I'm not going be changing drivers. I'm going to be using this FT-5 I've been playing with. What I may do is add the FT-i, the square one, for Augusta for three or four, five of those driving holes, because I take out a sand wedge anyway," he said. ... LPGA Tour rookie Paige Mackenzie changed from Ping clubs to Nike in November. Doing so required a mental adjustment. "What I didn't realize when you change equipment is that when you stand over the club how many good memories come back to you with the old clubs," she said. "With the new clubs there are no good memories yet so that is why I played a lot the last several weeks because I wanted to build good feelings and thoughts." It must have worked all right; Mackenzie tied for 17th in her first tournament as an exempt player.
