Long are the days we played video games with a cumbersome device. Yesterday at La Jolla’s Farmers Insurance Open, PGA Tour Pro Rickie Fowler and EA Sports executive producer Brent Nielsen presented the new Kinect for Xbox 360 game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13. Fowler was there to play at the legendary Torrey Pines Golf Course, but took an imaginary swing on the first, fully integrated Kinect golf game that enables golf enthusiasts a truly immersive golf experience.

Fowler, who is pictured alongside Tiger Woods in the new cover, said during the hands-on demo that “I never dreamed of being on the cover with Tiger Woods” having grown up playing video games all my life. “It’s special,” he says. 

Promoting the game as the first sports enabled control-free from EA Sports, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 offers redone physics that lets players “do what they do naturally,” said Nielsen. “You can do what you do naturally,” he added, “and you’ll never have to feel like you’ll get rained out.” In fact, when Fowler inquired as to whether he might even use his actual club, Nielsen said go for it.

“It’s realistic; it’s pretty cool,” said Fowler, who picked up on the virtual game within minutes of stepping up against Nielsen. The new game completely eliminates any harnessing controls and promotes a true golf swing.

Fowler had only just started to warm-up Tuesday when he came to the La Jolla course, famous for hosting the annual Farmers Insurance Open and 2008’s US Open. The young athlete, who was named 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, won his first professional title in October, taking the OneAsia Tour’s Korea Open over Rory McIlroy. Fowler recently signed on to Cobra Golf over Titleist, part of his longtime Puma Golf, but tweeted this week that he plans on continuing a Titleist partnership throughout his career.