BEING SQUARE NOT TIGER'S BAG.

Byline: JILL PAINTER GOLF

HAWTHORNE - Tiger Woods picked up his driver and launched some of those famous 300-yard-plus drives, but this was anything but a normal tee box.

Woods was driving the ball down the runway at the Hawthorne Municipal Airport. No one was on the other end of the runway to chart driving distance, but those numbers would've been crazy with the kind of roll he got.

It was almost as crazy as the club he was swinging -- a square driver. Yet, he proved it's hip to be square.

Woods gave a demonstration for the new Nike SasQuatch Sumo2 and Sumo drivers Tuesday, which made for quite a display. The Sumo2 isn't in his bag yet; he's still using the Nike SasQuatch driver that hit the market last year. He's still testing and tinkering with the new club -- which Nike deems ``radical geometry'' -- and hasn't clicked with it just yet.

Plus, as he says, he's picky.

``I've tested it, but I haven't quite found the launching conditions that work for me yet,'' Woods said. ``... I'm not going to put something in the bag unless it's better than what I've got.''

And the SasQuatch has been good to him.

The Sumo2 driver and Sumo arescheduled to go on sale Feb.1, with a suggested retail of $479 and $359, respectively.

Traditional golfers might cringe at first sight.

When Woods originally saw the new design, he laughed.

Nike engineer Rick Wahlin, who helped design the new drivers, said he hates to consider the Sumo the little brother to the Sumo2: ``this is an SQ product on steroids.''

The club is made of a composite crown, titanium face and titanium body. It has the highest MOI (which in English is all about giving you a tighter shot, longer down the fairway) in golf at 5300 g/cm2 (the new limit is 5900).

Woods understands the physics of clubs now.

``As a kid, all you did was move the lead tape around,'' Woods said. ``That was the way you changed things. You tried to make the clubs work better for you.''

Now it's a little more technical. And stranger looking and sounding. The different sound comes from the shape of the club. It's a bit like an aluminum bat hitting a ball, although in a deeper tone.

Nike is rolling with the square concept. At Woods' news conference, Huey Lewis & the News' ``Hip to Be Square'' blared through the speakers as reporters sat on square seats.

Woods, who has a home in Newport Beach, is scheduled to be in California through his Target World Challenge on Dec.13-17 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. He didn't fly in on Nike's private jet, which landed in Hawthorne before heading to Phoenix as part of the Whistle Stop Tour. David Duval was set to promote the club in Arizona, and Jason Gore (Hart High of Newhall/Pepperdine) -- who had the longest drive on the PGA Tour this past season at 427yards -- will make the NewYork City stop today.

Nike did many things well, but it wasn't in the golf business until it signed Woods when he turned pro in 1996. In the past decade, the company started a line of golf balls, clubs and apparel, and it has been a booming business. The golf apparel line is now the best seller in the world.

``I think we had a red shirt, blue shirt, black shirt, white shirt ...'' Woods said. ``We didn't have a lot and we weren't in the golf club business or ball business.

``We've come so far so quickly.''

After Woods was done doing the demo, Nike representatives informed reporters that they could take a crack at the new club. Woods then laughed. Then he told everyone to not hit the ball in the street.

Had he stayed to watch the weekend hackers, he would've been as entertained as he imagined.

FSN West reporter Michael Eaves sliced his first shot onto 120th Street. One reporter teed off in heels.

Another hit the runway before the ball.

Should be interesting to see if the Sumo2 is a hit on the market.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

The new SasQuatch SUMO(trdmk) driver.

Photo courtesy of nikegolf.com

Box:

(1) THIS WEEK

(2) Etc.