Strike With The Banned

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — You are not Tiger Woods.

You cannot drive the green (except on a par three). You know that in your realm, distance has more to do with telephone calls than how far you hit off the tee. You need help.

In what may be the most intriguing subplot at the British Open--it has the attention of club makers everywhere--the USGA, golf’s other ruling bodies and the best professional golfers in the world, could all be focused on a single golf club.

That would be Callaway’s ERC driver.

Banned in Boston and every other place under USGA jurisdiction, the controversial driver is very much a legal weapon at St. Andrews, where the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has decided to permit the use of the ERC, pending further review.

No one knows exactly how many players are going to use the controversial driver, but there are some very high-profile golfers considering it.

Who? Well, to name a few, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Campbell, Vijay Singh and David Duval.

There is no sure way to predict whether any or all of these guys will wind up using the driver, but consider that in the 1997 British Open at Troon, at what amounted to a home course for him, Montgomerie had six different Callaway drivers in his bag on the practice tee the day before the tournament began.

Official reaction to the ERC from golf’s institutions has been anything but waffling. The USGA listed the ERC on its list of nonconforming clubs that now numbers 16 because of its so-called “spring-like effect.” Basically, the USGA decided that the forged titanium club surpassed its limits on what a club should do to a ball, so it banned the ERC in any USGA events such as the U.S. Open, U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Women’s Open.

The Royal Canadian Golf Assn. also outlawed the club, which prompted a lawsuit by Callaway.

Meanwhile, the Royal and Ancient chose to follow a different path. The R&A; said it would conduct its own testing before ruling on the fate of the ERC, which means that it’s perfectly OK to use it at the British Open.

And that brings us to its potential story line this week at the Old Course. Taylor Made-Adidas Golf’s prototype driver is also making inroads with some pros as they try to gain ground in the ever-increasing distance race influenced by Woods. Taylor Made contract players Ernie Els, Mark O’Meara, Lee Janzen and Tom Lehman use the prototype, which doesn’t yet have a name. Thomas Bjorn and Patrick Sjoland will use the driver at St. Andrews.

The prototype is not on the USGA’s nonconforming list, as is the ERC, which brings up the question of whether a player would use one driver one week when it’s legal and then change it the next because it’s not.

The only possible answer: Certainly. If you could guarantee anyone out here he would win the British Open with a shovel, he would use it that week.

At the Wales Open last month, there were 18 players that used ERCs. At a Japanese PGA event that same week, 30 players used it. By the way, the ERC is being marketed and sold in Japan and Europe, but not in the U.S.

So keep an eye out for the drivers at the British Open. This may be the week we learn the answer to an important question: What lengths must a player go to in order to beat Tiger Woods?