News
Gary Player’s son arrested on fraud charges for incident at 2018 Masters; also facing civil suit over “Masters Experience”
Wayne Player, the son of the nine-time major champion Gary Player, was arrested last week in Georgia on fraud charges over an incident involving a house rental at the 2018 Masters.
According to the report from the Augusta Chronicle, Wayne Player was charged with deposit account fraud after a check he wrote to pay for his two-night stay at a private residence during the 2018 Masters was returned by the bank as a result of insufficient funds, with the homeowner making several unsuccessful attempts to contact Player.
Per the Chronicle’s report, Player promised the homeowner’s lawyer that he would send $1,000 to cover the debt, but that promise was not fulfilled, and in July, Player was reported to the police by the homeowner. On January 23, 2019, Player was arrested and charged with account fraud, and he has subsequently been released on bond.
Within the Chronicle’s report, it’s revealed that Wayne Player is also currently embroiled in a civil suit after he sold a “Green Jacket Masters Experience” for the 2018 Masters. Some of the perks offered in Player’s “Green Jacket Masters Experience,” which cost $6,850, included an open-bar dinner, tickets to both the Par 3 Contest and the third round of the Masters, and private home accommodation.
Todd Feltz and his wife claim to have bought the package, and per the report, when Feltz confronted Player to discuss the issue, he was headbutted and knocked to the ground by Player.
2018 US MASTERS TRIP GIVEAWAY! Join the @PlayerTour and stand a chance to win a free 2018 Masters Experience hosted by myself. Sweepstakes ends 3/2/2018 Subject to full Official Rules at https://t.co/jjfm656QjC @OnCoreGolf #Golf #Pgatour #golftips #GolfSwing @OgioGear pic.twitter.com/Vh8fWjFex4
— Wayne Player (@PlayerApproach) February 13, 2018
- LIKE12
- LEGIT5
- WOW46
- LOL12
- IDHT1
- FLOP4
- OB2
- SHANK42
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.
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
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
- LIKE22
- LEGIT2
- WOW2
- LOL1
- IDHT1
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
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.
- LIKE37
- LEGIT9
- WOW3
- LOL4
- IDHT0
- FLOP2
- OB0
- SHANK7
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
LET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole3 days ago
Report: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole1 week ago
Gary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks ago
Team McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
Equipment1 week ago
Golf fans left surprised by LIV’s choice of course for its 2024 individual championship event
-
19th Hole1 week ago
LIV star splits with swing coach after working together for 14 years
JuannyBravo
Feb 1, 2019 at 12:17 pm
This sounds like the Fyre Festival of golf
Player Tour
Feb 1, 2019 at 11:34 am
In relation to the various allegations against Mr. Wayne Player and the subsequent media coverage, the Player Tour LLC announced that Mr. Wayne Player resigned as the Tour Commissioner of the Player Amateur Tour the week following the Masters in April 2018.
Wayne Player Enterprises LLC and it’s so called Masters Experience packages do not represent the Player Amateur Tour or its sponsors and were exclusively managed by Wayne Player himself.
The Player Amateur Tour has no affiliation with Mr. Wayne Player whatsoever.
Tom
Jan 31, 2019 at 12:49 pm
Didn’t Tom Watson accuse Gary Player of cheating….the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree?
Jamie
Jan 31, 2019 at 12:17 pm
Who would buy something called the “Green Jacket Masters Experience”? Who would sell something so cheesy sounding? Made for each other.
JP
Jan 31, 2019 at 10:23 am
What issue did the purchaser of “Green Jacket Masters Experience” confront Player about?
C
Jan 31, 2019 at 11:04 am
Yeah, pretty important detail to leave out.
Shooter’s gonna choke!
Jan 31, 2019 at 3:09 pm
He had intended on buying the “Gold Jacket Experience” for the season ending tour championship!
carl
Jan 31, 2019 at 3:26 pm
he didnt get his green masters arm chair