May 6th 2000, PGA West, La Quinta

In a landmark decision, The Woody Tennis Championships® made it's first technical ruling on racquet composition for tournament play. "It was bound to happen and in my opinion the racquet ruling was long overdue", says Stephen Higginbotham, Tournament Official. "I think the ruling came as somewhat of a surprise to many of our players. Most were thinking about graphite content rather than head size, and headsize was the determining factor."

"Two racquets raised red flags at check-in Saturday morning," says Marsha Swope, who was working the desk, "and one was brought by my husband!" The two racquets in question are the Prince "Woodie" with a 110 square inch head size (circa 1982). The other was the Dunlop Wimbledon Mid with an 85 square inch head (circa 1983). Noted is the fact that both racquets share the split shaft "Y" configuration, forecasting what has now become the standard for graphite and composite technologies. Swope checked in with the Dunlop Midsize. "I didn't give it a second thought," he said. "I've had that racquet in a box for five years. It's an absolutely beautiful wood tennis racquet and it had never been strung. I put 16g natural gut in the racquet and had practiced with it for a few days before the tourney. I loved it." Jim Settles, cofounder of The Woody, was not amused. "It was obvious that we had to make a decision," says Settles. "The graphite content has always been a concern, but now with the headsize issue, something had to be done." After consulting with industry analyst Bill Johns, the final determination was made. "When you get right down to it," says Johns, "there are not many all-wood racquets available," notes Johns. "Wether it be plastic, fiberglass, graphite layering in the hoop lamination, most wood racquets have some kind of strengthening material other than wood," (both racquets in question have a graphite layer "sandwich" from the grip to the shoulders). Johns continues, "As long as the racquet is "primarily wood" and the headsize is at or below eighty two square inches you've got a level playing field." The decision delayed the first round and was announced just minutes before play. Kevin Frazier, Woody player representative, spoke for the competitors; "After an hour delay getting to the courts I think we were all happy just to have this issue behind us. It had been a dark cloud hanging over the event for years." As it turns out the headsize issue was not a major hurdle for this years champion Dan Jenkins, who was the other competitor wanting to play with an oversize wood racquet, the Prince Woodie. "Fortunately I had spoken to the tournament directors prior to the event because I suspected this may be an issue. I brought a Dunlop Maxply McEnroe just in case." When asked about the controversy after the final Dan just repeated, "My wood is good."