Is it bravado or insanity that makes PGA golfers think they have a chance against Tiger Woods on a Major Sunday? Certainly Sergio Garcia (as well as the rest of the field) felt the wrath of Tiger a few weeks ago during the British Open, as he stormed to his eleventh major. The rest of the field seemed to wilt under Tiger's intese combination of skill, drive, and gray matter. Why do they even try?

　　You might ask that same question in the video game world. Since the demise of the Links series, EA Sports' Tiger Woods series has been the undisputed ruled the sim golf roost with its combination of licensed courses and players, compelling gameplay, and, of course, the very presence of Tiger himself.

　　So what do the developers of Pro Stroke Golf--the upstart golf sim I previewed today here--have going for them? An interesting shot mechanic, for one thing. Instead of using a third-person camera and the old two- or three-bug swing system, Pro Stroke puts you directly over the ball during the shot and uses the right analog stick as the club.

　　Playing with the game today, it didn't take long for me to figure out some things I didn't like about the mechanic--the stick is a bit too sensitive when it comes to judging the power of your shot, for example. But here's the thing: If I'm not careful in Pro Stroke, I can more or less recreate the same vicious slice that plagues my real-life golf game. I'm not sure if that's ingenious, or just plain cruel.

　　The road to toppling Tiger is certainly a long one, and uphill most the way, but it's nice to see an upstart throwing down the gauntlet and chasing down the big boys in one of the few remaining sports genres where the licensing probably doesn't matter as much as gameplay.