The debate over golf's new rules governing clubface grooves continued to divide players here Wednesday with veteran Tom Waston and top youngster Rory McIlroy seeing it from different perspectives. For 60-year-old Watson, winner of eight majors, the new strictures, effecting wedges in particular, were a welcome initiative that will reward skill and strategy. For 20-year-old McIlroy, who is being touted as a major winner in the making, they will simply mean fewer birdies and more conservative play. Watson said that he was happy with the new rules, adopted this year by the US Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient, which mandate smaller 'V-grooves' rather than square or 'U-grooves,' which generate more spin. 'It does put an emphasis on putting the ball in the fairway when you have light rough conditions,' he said, explaining that players would want to avoid the rough where wedge play would now be more difficult to control. Taking it further, Watson said that he would next get rid of broom-handle putters, reduce the side of driver heads, and impose restrictions on ball technology so that they lost 10 percent in distance. 'The players are going to be able to adjust to it,' he said. 'You look at the players how they adjusted to the distance on golf courses and they will adjust to the less-spiny grooves. They will adjust to that and they will just keep on shooting pretty good scores.' McIlroy though said that he failed to understand the reasoning behind the new grooves rule. 'I don't see the reason why they just can't firm up the greens and get the rough longer to bring the scores down,' he said. 'They can make golf courses a lot tougher and turn 20-under par winning scores into 12-under par winning scores. 'But I think people like to see birdies as well. I don't see any reason why they are trying to make the game more difficult. 'When I turn on the TV and I'm watching a tournament, I don't like to see guys struggling for pars all the time. 'I like to see birdies and people hitting close and everything. With the new grooves that is going to be a lot harder to do.' The grooves debate took a new twist in the United States last week when world No.2 Phil Mickelson was accused of cheating for exploiting a loophole that allows players to use a Ping-Eye 2 wedge. That is a 20-year-old club that doesn't conform to the new rules for 2010, but which remains approved for play in the United States thanks to the settlement of a lawsuit between Ping and the USGA in 1993. Ireland's Padraig Harrington has said he will also keep his options open in that respect while awaiting a final decision on the matter which brought a wry comment from European No.1 Lee Westwood. 'It's a massive coup for Ping, isn't it, that people can hit their 20-year-old clubs better than their current manufacturers.' But he said he had no intention of following the examples of Mickelson and Harrington. 'I've spent most of my life trying to take spin off the ball so I'm not about to put in 20-year-old clubs. 'I think the up-to-date stuff that Ping manufactures are far superior to the stuff of 20 years ago.' USPGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem was expected to address the matter in a press conference on Wednesday. 