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The Cowboy Way
When prospective golf team members prepare to head to Oklahoma State a few things are certain – 1. They are already studs in the golf world at an amateur level. And 2, when they get through with their time in Stillwater they likely have a promising career ahead of them as a touring professional.
That theory was once again proven Sunday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open as a trio of Cowboys graced the top spots including the victor, Hunter Mahan. Mahan captured his 2nd PGA Tour victory with fellow OSU alum Rickie Fowler and Charles Howell III in close pursuit.
Mahan faced trouble early on in the final round as a cracked driver had to be replaced but in the end that club did come through for him, as well as a more important one, the flat stick, on his way to a final round of 65. That helped him to push past a crowded leader board on his way to a winning score of 16 under, one better than what phenom Rickie Fowler could must from his impressive 21 year-old skill set.
On a day when many a player contended it was Mahan who stepped up and separated himself while others seemed to fail at critical moments. The 27-year old California native surged forward with a remarkable second shot on the 13th hole. The pinpoint 2nd shot of more than 250 yards on the par five set up an eagle that made all the difference in the end. Follow up birdies on 14 and 16, where he made flawless strokes set the table for the victory.
At the same time the leading contenders, Y.E. Yang and Rickie Fowler, while playing splendidly, made key mistakes that would assure Mahan the $1.08 Million prize and easily his best finish of the year.
Yang rolled into contention on holes 10 through 15, playing them in a collective six under par, but made a crucial mistake of driving into the water on hole #17 where he eventually posted a bogey. His final round of 65 got him to 14 under par and a final position of 3rd.
Fowler, the new face of a generation of young pros, still had an opportunity on the last hole to tie Mahan but he had let a great opportunity pass him by on the 15th hole. The long-knocker laid up from 231 yards on the par five. A simple par stalled the momentum he had gained by birdies on #13, and #14, something he would fail to regain.
All is not lost however; Fowler proved he has the ability to contend and has given himself a remarkable number of opportunities in just a few PGA Tour appearances. He will just need a couple average finishes through the rest of his season to secure his card for next year. That is likely not even on his mind as he expects to win and has not shown any reason as to why he would not before 2010 draws to a close.
This time though, he must defer to his fellow Cowboy, Mahan, who went lights out on the weekend by posting back-to-back 65’s. “Great players win and I want to be a great player,” he said immediately after the round.
As the 1999 U.S. Junior winner, the top collegiate player in the nation back in 2003 ,and subsequently showing his ability on the PGA Tour as a winner and member of Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams , all Mahan now needs to make his dream of greatness come true is to keep winning.
So far he has just the 2007 Travelers Championship to add to today’s victory but clearly he is capable of more.
Fans expect nothing less from this Cowboy, and like just about every OSU golfer before him – he demands even more from himself.
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This report provided to GolfWRX.com by Flagstick Golf Magazine (www.flagstick.com)
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?
Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.
When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.
To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.
Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.
“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.
“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”
Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.
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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.
This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.
Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.
The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.
Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.
…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.
Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.
Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.
According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.
He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.
Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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