News
Sony Open in Hawaii: 5 things we learned
This month, the PGA Tour’s Houston Open announced that Memorial Park, in the heart of the city, would be re-envisioned as the new home of its annual stop in the Space City. Tom Doak will oversee the renovation, and it wasn’t long before pundits and fans joined voices in uncertainty. Would the course be long enough for the PGA Tour? Let’s put that baby to bed, after we congratulate Matt Kuchar on his 2nd win of the season, and first of 2019.
1. Shorter and Strategic will always have a place on tour
Courses like Waialae (restored by Doak and team) and Harbor Town offer less-than-long hitters an opportunity to showcase their talents. Remember last fall’s Ryder Cup? Team Europe neutralized the length advantage of the USA at Le Golf National, and rolled to victory. Great courses from a bygone era will charm competitors and fans alike, and the essence of proper golf course architecture will never fade from fashion.
They say trees are 90% air …
????? ???? ? ????????#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/YPB6X8uOJs
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 14, 2019
2. Ryder Cup snubs lead to resurgence
Last week, we discussed the Xander Schauffele snub by USA Ryder Cup team captains. This week, the veteran most expected to make the team (Kuchar) won a second time since that international competition. Nothing sparks the competitive fires like being told that you aren’t good enough. Kuchar’s multiple international caps weren’t enough to secure a spot in France, but he is playing like he wants Tiger Woods (2019 President’s Cup captain) to know that he plans to return to Team USA pronto. We think that the fans support his cause.
Some love for the fans. ????????????
Kuchar heads to the 72nd hole with a 3-shot lead.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/FXbQfVZE1w
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 14, 2019
3. How is what Kuchar does with a putter legal, when other methods are not?
It’s not anchored on the torso (or even the forehead!) as many used to do, but a putter anchored is a putter anchored. Go ahead and discuss fulcrum and pivot as much as you like, but this style eliminates the free tick-tock of the butt end, something mentioned (albeit in more formal language) by the ruling bodies as essential to a proper putting stroke.
Bang. ????
Matt Kuchar is coming up CLUTCH.
3-shot lead.
2 holes left.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/tMhhsxitcz— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 14, 2019
4. What a back ten he played!
How good was Kuchar down the stretch? After making with 3 bogies in his first 5 holes, the Georgian righted the ship with three pars. Beginning at the 9th, he played his final ten holes in 6 strokes below par, creating the 4-stroke victory margin he would celebrate at day’s end. No other golfer in contention had that type of control nor confidence. When Kuchar is on point in regular tour events, he is as likely to win as not. Now, if he could make the leap to professional major championships, he might go down in history!
Want to watch some clutch golf?
Matt Kuchar's highlights from Sunday's @SonyOpenHawaii win. pic.twitter.com/wum1UHHxF8
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 14, 2019
5. Andrew Putnam is a candidate for some sort of breakthrough
Putnam won his first tour event in the fall, at the Barracuda Championship at Montreaux. The Pepperdine golfer honed his game on the Web tour, winning twice. A calm demeanor, thorough game and electric putting are three reasons to think that this week’s runner-up might be ready to win again, and challenge in events of greater stature.
Not so fast. Co-leaders.@AndrewPutnam1 is on fire with the flatstick. ???? pic.twitter.com/mse3wXlQHB
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 14, 2019
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Equipment
Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?
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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Equipment
Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter
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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Equipment
Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange
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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Warrick Lawrence
Jan 15, 2019 at 8:41 am
Again you covered everything you learned from the Sony open?
Again, the only thing we didn’t learn is What’s in the winners bag?
FYI resending the same lame stories under a different headline /link doesn’t make it better or you smarter
Warrick Lawrence
Jan 14, 2019 at 2:40 pm
Sooo WITB??????
It’s the only reason I clicked the link?
frank cichon
Jan 14, 2019 at 1:57 pm
In my opinion it is hard to take the R&A and the USGA seriously when all I hear is GROW the game. I CAN NOT have my 48 inch putter touching my chest….BUT I am allowed on a shorter putter to have it glued right up to my ELBOW…REALLY!!!! While I am ranting …slow play…have the balls to first warn the player and second slow time…1 stroke …within a few tournaments we would see play improve to rounds under 4 hours for a twosome. We will not grow the game by building 12 hole courses (4 hours) but maybe if the average guy could play 18 holes on a weekend in 4 hours his wife may let him play and come home 1-2hours sooner to spend time with his family. THE RULES ARE THERE….JUST HAVE THE BALLS TO ENFORCE THEM!
joro
Jan 14, 2019 at 1:38 pm
So where is the WTB ? They covered everything other than what brand of underwear he had and what he had in his Bag. What a joke,