After selling Ping wedges, Harrington may turn back
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
LOS ANGELES -- One of the most cerebral men on the PGA TOUR, Padraig Harrington is also one of the more pragmatic.
So while he'd like to see a clarification of the rule that mandated a switch from the larger U-grooves to narrower V-grooves for 2010, the Irishman is still testing one of the Ping Eye2 wedges that were grandfathered into the decision.
Only Ping Eye2 wedges made before April 1, 1990, are approved for competition due to a settlement of the company's lawsuit against the USGA that same year. Those wedges have the larger square grooves.
So Harrington has been trying out a 60-degree Ping wedge and says the difference in distance control out of the rough is "significant." Out of the fairway, though, his Wilson wedge with the V-grooves performs the same.
"What I'm doing is I'm preparing myself for all eventualities," Harrington said. "It would be naïve not to."
Harrington said he may not know whether he will use the Ping wedge until he tees off on Thursday in the Northern Trust Open. And he's hoping for more clarity after a player meeting is held at Riviera on Tuesday.
Still, Harrington is clearly troubled by the wiggle room in the rule that turns what normally is black and white a little gray.
"I would like to see a clarification myself," he said. "Legally I don't know how they can go about it, but maybe the PGA TOUR could play under the rules of the R&A, then we'd have no problem. Maybe Ping could forego the lawsuit, then there would be no problem. Or possibly, I don't know, this is what I would sort of suggest, is that maybe everybody sign up to a charter and say we won't use them.
"But while they're out there being used, it's a difficult situation not to for anybody who's competitive not to go out there and take full advantage of what you can if somebody else is."
At least four players reportedly used a Ping Eye2 wedge at Torrey Pines last week, including Phil Mickelson. Scott McCarron was quoted as saying that was cheating, although he later denied calling the No. 2 player in the world a cheater.
Steve Stricker, who finished second to Mickelson last year at Riviera, said that under the rule there is nothing wrong with what the players using the Ping Eye2s are doing. But he thinks the rule needs to be altered so the playing surface is even.
"I didn't care for (McCarron's) words, with using those two words so closely together, cheating and Phil Mickelson," Stricker said. "We have enough going on in our sport right now where we don't need any more attention to something like this. I think he's retracted that a little bit.
"Like I say, (Phil) was playing under the rules. All the other guys that were playing the Ping clubs were also playing under the same rules. It's just that the rule isn't a very good one right now. And I think that's what we need to work towards to, like I say, try to get everybody on the same page so we're all playing the same equipment."
Harrington held a yard sale of sorts last winter, getting rid of all the clubs he has accumulated over the years and giving the proceeds to charity. Ironically, among the ones he sold were seven Ping wedges.
"And then I find out four weeks later at Hawaii that you can use those clubs," Harrington said with a wry smile. "...I must have had these clubs for 20 years and I said I'm getting rid of everything and I had a total clean out and sure enough, you need them next week."
So Harrington went looking for some of the old Ping Eye2s. His caddie's mother had a set and he got one from another Irish pro named Brendan McGovern.
"Some of them were too late, some of them were too early, but the lob wedge is within the time frame," Harrington said. "And the grooves are reasonable without being absolutely brand new or anything."
Not all players would see an advantage by using the Ping Eye2s, according to Harrington. The ones who regularly hit fairways and greens, for example, should be fine with the V-grooves.
"But if you're aggressive and you're going at par 5s maybe when you should be laying up and things like that, it certainly takes the aggressive club out of your hand," Harrington said. "You can't afford to miss those par 5s coming up short. ... Not necessarily those five-, 10-yard shots; it's sort of the 35-, 40-yard shots out of the rough, and it basically means that you'll see a lot more conservative play, a lot more laying up, and players will have to play a different way."
Under the current rule, though, Harrington and Mickelson and anyone else can play the Ping Eye2s. And as such, the conversation is an interesting one.
"Because of the fact, because of the way we govern ourselves when we play golf, we strenuously stick to the rules. You have to," Harrington said. "... It has to be black and white, it really does, and the problem here is that it is black and white, that it's legal."
"So that means there has to be something else done about it. What can be done, because it was a Supreme Court ruling, wasn't it? ... It's not like the PGA TOUR, you know, who do we think we are if we can overrule the Supreme Court. We have to go some other way. I'm not sure what that is."
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