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Sponsor Shuffling: Els, English and DeLaet

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The start of the 2014 PGA Tour calendar has given a fresh look and some new clubs for Harris English, Ernie Els and Graham DeLaet, who have all signed new sponsorship deals.

Ernie Els’ new equipment contract with Adams Golf became official yesterday, settling the rumors about where he would end up for the 2014 season.

Els, who is currently ranked No. 27 in the Official World Golf Rankings, has bounced between several equipment sponsors over his hall-of-fame career, winning majors with three separate OEM’s: Lynx (1994 U.S. Open), TaylorMade (1997 U.S. Open and 2002 British Open) and Callaway (2012 British Open). He seems to have found a situation he is happy with in Adams.

In a blog post on the Adams Golf website, Els wrote that he is “so excited about joining Adams.”  To answer the questions about what clubs he will game, he continued “Right now we’re working hard to finalize the configuration and exact specs of my set, focusing specifically on the Tight Lies fairway metals, XTD irons and hybrids.”

Since TaylorMade-Adidas acquired Adams Golf in 2012, it is also likely that Els will be swinging a TaylorMade driver. The public will see Els with his new set for the first time at the Qatar Masters later this month.

harris

Harris English, a two-time PGA Tour winner in 2013 and four-time All-American from the University of Georgia, signed a deal with Callaway Golf, filling the void left by the departure of Ernie Els. He’s not yet a hall-of-famer, and has big shoes to fill, but a strong showing last year proved his potential to be a household name on Tour.

Callaway and Odyssey clubs appear in English’s bag this week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, and will comprise his set throughout the year. English is excited about his new sponsor, saying “I’ve been really happy with the new Callaway clubs. In a short period of time I’ve been able to take advantage of the resources they have and I’m excited about the start of the 2014 season.”

Graham DeLaet, ranked No. 36 in the world, is also making moves, signing on to wear Puma apparel for the upcoming 2014 season. He will not play the company’s Cobra golf equipment, however, as he recently signed a three year contract to continue to use Titleist’s golf equipment and golf ball and wear FootJoy’s gloves and shoes.

delaet

New additions are rare for Puma Golf, but the celebrated and always entertaining Canadian was a no-brainer to sport colorful Puma threads. DeLaet, a mainstay on the GolfWRX weekly feature “Tweets of the Week” keeps his fans amused on and off the golf course. He’s a spark to the already flashy group of Rickie Fowler, Jonas Blixt, Jesper Parnevik and Ian Poulter. DeLaet’s flair complements his talent, a successful recipe for the Cobra/PUMA team.

His 2013 bid included a second place finish at The Barclays, third place finishes at the Travelers and Deutsche Bank Championships, and 11 top-25 finishes.

Fully suited in Puma gear from the 2014 Spring/Summer Collection, DeLaet will make his 2014 debut on January 23 at the Farmers Insurance Open.  Much like the Tiger Sunday Red, or Rickie Fowler Sunday Orange, DeLaet will show his Canadian patriotism with red and white every Sunday on Tour this year. Puma will share photos on social media using the hashtag #CandianSunday.

Between DeLaet, Poulter and Fowler, Cobra/Puma has a strong contingent of Tweeters.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Brian Dudz

    Jan 4, 2014 at 9:49 pm

    Great article, Andrew! My favorite line was “…but the celebrated and always entertaining Canadian was a no-brainer to sport colorful Puma threads.”

  2. Zak

    Jan 4, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    I saw someone say that Henrik Stenson will be playing a full bag of Callaways this season, does that mean he will he parting ways with his beloved (and extremely successful) Piretti putter?

  3. Hoylake

    Jan 3, 2014 at 1:33 pm

    Henrik Stenson Has signed with Callaway and will play a full Callaway bag 2014!

  4. bellsy13

    Jan 3, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    Mateo: Canadians don’t have the luxuries Americans have with sports. DeLaet is the best Canadian golfer on tour and was in the hunt more than not. He’s a class act, picked for the President’s Cup and had a stellar end to his season. You must not follow golf too closely. He is much more relevant than your comments.

  5. Shawn

    Jan 3, 2014 at 10:55 am

    “So we lost Ernie, huh? That’s okay, we just signed Harris English”

    I’ll take things that WEREN’T said at Callaway headquarters for $500, Alex.

  6. ryan neuzerling

    Jan 3, 2014 at 6:20 am

    whatever shirt doesn’t have a beer/grass/food stain….

  7. Mateo

    Jan 3, 2014 at 1:17 am

    yawn. 1 over the hill and the other 2 are almost irrelevant

    • LorenRobertsFan

      Jan 3, 2014 at 2:31 am

      Over the hill? Ernie won the Open this past year. And English isn’t irrelevant. He won twice on tour this past year also

    • burkie

      Jan 3, 2014 at 11:27 am

      neither of them are nearly as irrelevant as your post.

      Do you follow the PGA tour at all?

  8. Shark

    Jan 2, 2014 at 6:39 pm

    I just loaded up in Canadian Winter offseason on sligo golf clothes as I like delaet style. Oh well I like his old funky stuff. Puma is flashy but not as fun…

    • Shelby

      Jan 4, 2014 at 3:10 am

      Instead of you and Graham D., you can at least say it’s you and Brian Gay! He rocks the Sligo still……

  9. jc

    Jan 2, 2014 at 6:00 pm

    and what will all of you be wearing on sunday? golfwrx wants to know…
    I will be wearing my old footjoys and whatever golf shirt I find first in the closet that goes with the first pair of pants I grab.

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Whats in the Bag

Kevin Tway WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX

5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX

Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)

Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4

More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.

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Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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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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Webb Simpson equipment Q&A: Titleist’s new 2-wood, 680 blade irons, and switching to a broomstick Jailbird

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With seven career wins on the PGA Tour, including a U.S. Open victory, Webb Simpson is a certified veteran on the course. But he’s also a certified veteran in the equipment world, too. He’s a gearhead who truly knows his stuff, and he’s even worked closely with Titleist on making his own custom 682.WS irons.

On Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship, I caught up with Simpson to hear about his experience with Titleist’s new prototype 2-wood, how Titleist’s 680 Forged irons from 2003 ended up back in his bag, and why he’s switching into an Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Cruiser broomstick putter this week for the first time.

Click here to read our full story about Simpson’s putter switch on PGATOUR.com’s Equipment Report, or continue reading below for my full Q&A with Simpson at Quail Hollow Club on Wednesday.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

GolfWRX: It seems like you’ve been a little all over the place with your irons in the past six months or so, and now going back to the 680’s. Is that just a comfort thing? What’s been going on with the irons?

Webb Simpson: Titleist has been so great at working with me, and R&D, on trying to get an iron that kind of modernizes the 680. And so the 682.WS took the T100 grooves, but kinda took the look and the bulk and the build of the 680’s into one club. They’re beautiful, and awesome looking. I just never hit them that well for a consistent period of time. It was probably me, but then I went to T100’s and loved them. I loved the spin, the trajectory, the yardage, but again, I never went on good runs. Going through the ground, I couldn’t feel the club as well as with the blade. So last week, I’m like, ‘Alright. I’m gonna go back more for…comfort, and see if I can get on a nice little run of ball striking.’

So that’s why I went back.

 

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A post shared by GolfWRX (@golfwrx)

OK, that makes sense. I know you had done some 2-wood testing recently. Is that in the bag right now?

It’s like day-by-day. I used it at Hilton Head every day. Valero, I used it one round. And this week, me and my caddie will do the book every morning, and if it’s a day where we think we need it, we’ll just put it in and take the 3-wood out. I love it because it’s a super simple swap. Like, it doesn’t really change much.

Yeah, can you tell me about that club? I mean, we don’t really know anything about it yet. You know? I haven’t hit it or anything, obviously.

It has grooves like a 3-wood. Spin is perfect. And it’s honestly, like, everything is in the middle of a 3-wood and driver number. Trajectory, spin, carry, all of it. So, a Hilton Head golf course is almost too easy to talk about because, you know, there, so many holes are driver 3-wood.

Valero, our thinking was we had two par-5’s into the wind, and we knew that it would take two great shots to get there in two. So instead of hitting driver-driver, we just put it in. And I used it on those holes.

Hilton was a little easier because it was off-the-tee kind of questions. But Colonial will be a golf course where, you know, there’s a lot of driver or 3-woods. It’s kind of like a backup putter or driver for me now. I’ll bring it to every tournament.

So it’s, like, in your locker right now, probably?

Well, it would be. It’s in my house [because Webb lives near by Quail Hollow Club, and is a member at the course.] It’s in the garage.

Oh, yeah, that’s right. Do you know what holes you might use it out here if it goes in play? 

Potentially 15, depending on the wind. Second shot on 10. Could be 14 off the tee. The chances here are pretty low (that he’ll use the 2-wood). But, like, Greensboro would be an awesome club all day. I’m trying to think of any other golf courses.

There’s plenty that it’ll be a nice weapon to have.

It’s interesting, the wave of 2-woods and mini drivers. Like, it’s just really taken off on Tour, and all the companies have seemed to embrace it.

Yeah. The thing I had to learn, it took me, like, at least a week to learn about it is you gotta tee it up lower than you think. I kept teeing it up too high. You need it low, like barely higher than a 3-wood. And that was where I got optimal spin and carry. If you tee it up too high, you just don’t get as much spin and lose distance, I don’t know if that’s just a mini driver thing.

And you obviously have a Jailbird putter this week. What spurred that on?

Inconsistent putting. I’m stubborn in a lot of ways when it comes to my equipment, but I have to be open minded – I just hadn’t putted consistently well in a while. And I’m like, ‘Man, I feel my ball-striking coming along. Like I feel better; for real, better.’

If I can just get something in my hands that I’m consistent with. Being on Tour, you see it every year, guys get on little runs. I can put together four to five tournaments where I’m all the sudden back in the majors, or in the FedExCup Playoffs. You can turn things around quick out here. I’m like, ‘Man, whatever’s going to get me there, great.’

My caddie, David Cook, caddied for Akshay at the Houston Open and he putted beautifully. Then, I watched Akshay on TV at Valero, and he putted beautifully. And, I’m like, ‘I’m just going to try it.’

I’ve never tried it for more than a putt or two, and I just ordered what Akshay uses. It was pretty awkward at first, but the more I used it, the more I’m like, ‘Man, it’s pretty easy.’ And a buddy of mine who’s a rep out here, John Tyler Griffin, he helped me with some setup stuff. And he said at Hilton Head, he wasn’t putting well, then tried it, and now he makes everything. He was very confident. So I’m like, ‘Alright, I’ll try it.’”

And you’re going with it this week?

Hundred percent.

Alright, I love it. Thank you, I always love talking gear with you. Play well this week. 

Thanks, man.

See Webb Simpson’s full WITB from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship here

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