News
Morning 9: Leadbetter calls out Ko family again | Olesen charged, suspended from Euro Tour | McIlroy roasts Kuchar
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By Ben Alberstadt ([email protected]; @benalberstadt on Instagram)
August 7, 2019 Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.
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1. Leadbetter calls out Kos again
Scathing words from Lydia Ko’s former instructor, via Christopher Powers at Golf Digest. Ko missed the cut at the Women’s British Open, has won just once in the past three years, and has been through a number of coaches and caddies in the process.
2. Tiger’s prep day at Liberty National
Alex Myers ventured off the 27th floor of One World Trade to check out Tiger Woods’ Tuesday practice round in Jersey City.
3. Olesen charged, suspended from European Tour
BBC report…”Ryder Cup winner Thorbjorn Olesen will appear in court on 21 August after being charged with sexual assault, being drunk on an aircraft and common assault.”
4. More tweaks for the scientist
PGATour.com’s Andrew Tursky on some adjustments (and a potential bombshell for amateur golfers?) ahead of the first FEC event.
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5. Woodland’s summer of stress
AP report…”So the smile that never left him Tuesday at Liberty National Golf Club had nothing to do with the $15 million prize at stake as the FedEx Cup playoffs begin. It was all about his twin daughters Maddox and Lennox born Thursday, making his best year in golf the greatest year of his life.”
6. The perils of expecting something different
Golf Digest’s Joel Beall…”Garcia’s litany of temper tantrums-ones seemingly reserved for grade-schoolers-have been met with increased fascination, self-righteousness and finger-wagging. Yet, entertaining as Garcia’s faux pas may be (to some), the aggregate of incidents-the latest a club throw at his caddie at Royal Portrush and a tee-box excavation in Memphis-raises a question: What is up with this cat?”
7. Who’s up for a little Tiger or Jack debate?
For The Win’s Andy Nesbitt with a vote for TW…
“But there’s been nobody as good as Tiger. Ever…And it really isn’t even close.”
8. Roasted!
Golf Channel’s Jason Crook...”The latest burn came via Rory McIlroy on Tuesday during the Wyndham Rewards ceremony, where an extra $10 million in bonus money was handed out to players.”
9. Shibuno for team Japan?
Golf Channel’s Nick Menta...:”Shibuno is up to 14th in the Rolex Rankings, making her the second highest Japanese player in the world, behind 10th-ranked Nasa Hataoka.”
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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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Donkeys
Aug 10, 2019 at 10:57 pm
Jackass.
Jim
Aug 8, 2019 at 9:24 am
Matt Kuchar sucks.
Iknowdonkeys
Aug 8, 2019 at 9:27 am
Kuchar is a big donkey with a donkey face.
BoycottBridgestoneBalls
Aug 8, 2019 at 1:13 pm
Yes, he does. I stopped buying Bridgestone balls because he’s such a jerk.
BigDonkey
Aug 10, 2019 at 11:57 am
That’s hilarious. He does resemble a donkey.
Nick
Aug 10, 2019 at 12:00 pm
AKA…JACKASS – hee haw…
Oh oYouDidnt
Aug 7, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Damn, Rory.
JThunder
Aug 7, 2019 at 9:39 pm
“Rory cost me $300,000…”
Yeah, Matt, I’m sure the golfing public really cares about your 1% problems. The average U.S. household is lucky to make that much in 6 years of full-time, year-long work.