News
Morning 9: Tommy triumphant | Monday finish at Mayakoba | A death blow for amateur golf?
1. Tommy triumphant
Hard to believe Fairway Jesus hadn’t won in almost 2 years!
Sport24 report…”Tommy Fleetwood waited 22 months for a win, and when it came it was big
2. Monday finish
Golf Channel’s Will Gray…”It’ll take another day to decide a winner at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.”
3. No brotherly advice
Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch…”…25-year-old…Chase Koepka. He earned his status on both the Challenge and European Tours, and next month faces final qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour. Success will bring him one step closer to joining his brother Brooks on the PGA Tour, but he isn’t planning to rely on his celebrated sibling for advice on tackling the four-round gauntlet at Orange County National near Orlando.”
4. New caddie (for a week)
Golfweek’s Forecaddie…”This week’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai will be Rory McIlroy’s 25th and last start of the year, but it will be the first for his new caddie. And the last.”
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5. Hole-in-ones come in bunches on the PGA Tour now?
An interesting phenomenon! Golf Digest’s Ryan Herrington…”Early in Sunday’s final round at the El Cameleon course in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, defending Mayakoba champion Matt Kuchar holed this shot on the par-3 eighth hole….Five minutes later, Brian Gay stepped to tee on the par-3 10th hole and watched as this happened.”
6. 8-stroke penalty!
You may have missed it earlier in the course of the OHL Classic: Russell Henley was penalized two strokes on three consecutive holes. How did it happen?
7. Poke takes control
Golfweek’s Alistair Tait…”Denmark’s Benjamin Poke is in control of the European Tour Qualifying School at the halfway stage. The 27-year-old takes a two-shot lead into the final three days at Lumine Golf Club in Tarragona, Spain. The Danish professional is hoping to take the lead card of the 25 on offer for the 2020 European Tour.”
8. “Amateur golf is doomed” files
Interesting perspective from Geoff Shackelford…”I’m loathe to pick on Sierra Brooks for turning pro hot off her Q-Series T-62 finish, guaranteeing Symetra Tour status. A perk she will take while conceding her final few months at Florida where she’s one of college golf’s best players on one of its best teams. But I will anyway.”
9. Tommy Fleetwood’s winning WITB
What the Englishman had in his bag for the Nedbank Golf Challenge
Driver: TaylorMade M5 (9 degrees @7.75)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XTS 70TX (44.75 inches)
3-wood: TaylorMade M6 (15 degrees bent to 14.25)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana DF 70X (42.5 inches)
5-wood: TaylorMade M6 (19 degrees bent to 18.5)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana BF 80TX (41.5 inches)
Irons: TaylorMade GAPR Lo (@18.75), Srixon Z785 (4, 5-iron), TaylorMade P7TW (6-9)
Shafts: GAPR: Project X 6.5 (39.5 inches), 4, 5-irons: Project X 6.5 (38.5 inches), 6- 9-irons: Project X 6.5
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 Raw (47, 52, 60 degrees)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro #3
Grip: Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0
Ball: Titleist ProV1x
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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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