Tiger Woods to play prototype ball at PNC Championship

Tiger Woods will make his return to competition at the PNC Championship with a new ball in play.

Woods, who has played Bridgestone's Tour B XS ball since 2018, will be gaming a prototype version of the new Tour B XS at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida. He was heavily involved in the development of that ball and Bridgestone's Reactive urethane cover formula.

The 15-time major champion announced the news in a tweet today.

Woods has been working on an updated version of the Tour B XS since his win at the 2019 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, his record-tying 82nd victory on the PGA TOUR.

“The process of perfecting this ball has been really fun," Woods said. "I have tested the new TOUR B prototypes at home, and I’m looking forward to putting them into play at the PNC Championship. This event is the perfect spot for me to take the prototype testing to the next level.”

Woods also spoke of the short-game benefits of the ball. With the previous generation Tour B XS, Bridgestone emphasized increased greenside spin and softer feel (compared to the Tour B X).

While Bridgestone hasn't offered any details on retail updates to the Tour B X line, it's reasonable to expect 2022 formulations of the Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX, and Tour B RXS are on their way.

In terms of other equipment Woods will use at the PNC Championship, rumors abound that he might put new TaylorMade's Stealth driver, which was placed this week on the USGA’s list of conforming clubs, in the bag.

That said, Woods' equipment, when practicing at the Hero World Challenge last week, appeared identical to his setup at the 2021 PNC Championship.

Details on what we spotted at Albany, below.

Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM Titanium (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade M3 (19 @18.25 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7TW (3-PW)
Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: TaylorMade MG2 TW/MT Grind (56-12, 60-11)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron GSS Newport 2

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord 58R

Equipment junkies will be keen to see the 14 clubs Woods chooses to play with alongside Charlie and how they stack up to the above, but at least we're now clear on what he'll be hitting with them.