Tour News
Finally, it’s Fowler
![](https://www.golfwrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/143971471_crop_650x440.jpg)
By James Dalthrop
GolfWRX Staff Writer
Since he turned pro in 2009, the golf world has been impatiently waiting for one of its young stars to capture his first PGA Tour win. On Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, golf fans all over the world rejoiced as 23-year-old Rickie Fowler captured his first Tour victory in electrifying fashion with a birdie on the most difficult hole, the par 4 18th, in a three-way playoff over the No. 1 ranked player in the world – Rory McIlroy – and D.A. Points. On the first playoff hole, Fowler hit a gap wedge from 133 yards, a full shot that left him four feet for the win. After Points and McIlroy missed birdie attempts, Fowler made the putt. Just twelve days before, he switched to putting with a left hand-low grip, a method he had not used since high school. The change worked.
“It’s kind of helping me get into a little bit better setup right now,” Fowler said. “A little bit more square instead of — sometimes I tend to get a little open, hips and shoulders, and just helping me get into a better position and working on getting the ball started on line, so it’s working right now.”
Fowler’s first PGA Tour win comes in his 67th start as a professional, his other professional win coming at the Korean Open in 2011. His rounds of 66-72-67-69 left him at 14-under in regulation and the final birdie finished the deal. Among his six birdies in the final round, a birdie on the par-5 15th gave him a key lead. Despite a bogey on No. 16, Points and McIlroy behind him bogeyed one of the closing two holes in succession, giving him a playoff opportunity. Fowler’s previous best finishes on the PGA Tour were runner-up finishes at the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open and the 2010 Memorial Tournament.
“I would’ve liked (the win) to come sooner, but I knew it’s not easy to win out here on Tour,” he said. Fowler added, “Nice to finally have the first one out of the way.”
Fowler’s mother Lynne and girlfriend were on site for the win. Fowler, a captain’s pick in the 2010 Ryder Cup, improves to seventh on this year’s Ryder Cup points list with the win. One of Fowler’s more famous moments in golf was winning a half-point in those matches by making birdies on his last four holes, winning each one. With his win, only one player has won the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club who did not represent his country on a Presidents or Ryder Cup team. Joey Sindelar remains that lone ranger, a champion in 2004 over Aaron Oberholser.
Fowler’s popularity is already rivaling some of the most polarizing figures in the game thanks to his style and personality. This was evidenced by his large support of congratulatory figures on social media such as Twitter on Sunday night. Fowler’s line of PUMA merchandise is already a regular sight on fans at PGA TOUR events as well. Fowler sported an orange outfit as tribute to his Oklahoma State University Cowboys, as he usually does on Sunday, including a white belt, flat-billed white hat, and white shoes. Most notably, he also made sure to keep a “Leuk the duck” pin in support of Leukemia-stricken PGA TOUR member Jarrod Lyle on the forefront of his cap throughout the day. Originally from outside San Diego in Murrieta, Calif., Fowler returns close to his current home of Jupiter, Fla., this week to prepare for The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
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Equipment
Spotted: Putter roundup from the 2024 3M Open
![](https://www.golfwrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/putter-roundup-2024-3m.png)
Every week we spot some really cool and custom putters out on the putting green and in tour players’ bags. This week is no slouch with some really interesting and beautiful putters being tested. Let’s take a look at some of the standouts we found.
Tyler Duncan: Scotty Cameron Phantom T-11.5
The Phantom 11 is a pretty wild putter by Scotty’s standards with a multi-material design that boosts MOI for more forgiveness. Duncan’s T-11.5. takes the stock model and moves the shaft to the center of the putter head. We don’t mean a center shafted version, but the shaft is installed in the center, behind the face as well. We don’t have any official details on this T-11.5 but it looks like that setup should create a putter where the face points towards the hole or target, similar to a L.A.B. putter.
Zac Blair: Scotty Cameron 009.M Cameron & Co. “Longneck”
Blair might be in possession of the largest Scotty collection on tour! It seems like every week he has something new, and flat-out gorgeous, that he is trying out. I have seen a lot of 009.M putters over the years, but never one with a long plumbers neck on it. This 009 is a Masterful that utilizes additional CNC machine work to reduce the amount of hand polishing needed to complete the putter. The long, or tall, neck on the putter usually is used to reduce the amount of toe hang and make the putter more face balanced. The face contains a very shallow milling while the sole features a tour truck, tour only, diamonds, and the rare Circle L stamp. The Circle L was made for Scotty’s close friends who lost matches or games and was meant to poke a little fun at their misfortune.
Paul Barjon: PXG Prototype
There are a lot of putters out there that become so widely used and popular that other manufacturers will borrow some of the design cues. The Spider is one of those putters and it looks like PXG has made a prototype putter for Barjon that has some similar features. This proto has a tapered mallet shape with twin wings that come out from either side of the rear. Twin movable weights sit in each wing on the sole and the sole features a plate that is bolted in place at the corners. The top contains a single siteline and the face uses PXG’s advanced pyramid face structure.
Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Broomstick #7
More and more long, counterbalanced, and alternative putters seem to be showing up recently. The long, or broomstick, putter is making a comeback and more than a few players have joined Adam Scott in using that style. Odyssey has thrown its hat in the broomstick arena with a new Ai-One Cruiser model. The head shape is the very familiar #7 model, but with the shaft going into the center of the club head. An Ai-One face is there to help keep ball speed consistent on off-center hits and three white lines are on top for framing ball and aligning the putter.
TaylorMade Spider Tour S Broomstick
Another option in the long putter is TaylorMade’s Spider Tour S broomstick that we saw around the putting green. The head looks to be a little larger than the standard Tour S and that makes sense with the broomstick-style putters demanding heads near or over 400g. A TPU Pure Roll insert is installed in the face and the shaft is a more traditional double-bend design, just much longer! There isn’t the True Path alignment on top, just a full darker grey finish with a single siteline. Two moveable weights are out in the wings of the putter to dial in the specific weight a player might want.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 3M Open
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 3M Open
![](https://www.golfwrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screen-Shot-2024-07-24-at-11.33.52-AM.png)
GolfWRX is on site this week at TPC Twin Cities for the 2024 3M Open for the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s regular season.
The photos are flying in from Blaine, Minnesota. We’ve already assembled general galleries and a fresh Tony Finau WITB.
Check back throughout the week for more photos!
General Albums
- 2024 3M Open – Monday #1
- 2024 3M Open – Monday #2
- 2024 3M Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 3M Open – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Tobias Jonsson – WITB – 3M Open
- Keith Mitchell – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Tony Finau – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Maverick McNealy – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Tom Hoge – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Mac Meissner – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Robert Streb – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Sahith Theegala – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Santiago de la Fuente – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Billy Horschel – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 3M Open
- Roger Sloan – WITB – 2024 3M Open
Pullout Albums
- Ping putters – #1 – 3M Open
- Ping Putters – #2 – 3M Open
- TaylorMade Spider Tour S broomstick putter – 3M Open
- Odyssey Broomstick #7 putter – 3M Open
- Bettinardi putters – 2024 3M Open
- New EyeLine training aid – 2024 3M Open
- Sam Ryder’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Odyssey putters – 2024 3M Open
- L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 3M Open
- Tyler Duncan’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Zac Blair’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 3M Open
- Paul Barjon – PXG putter – 2024 3M Open
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Equipment
Collin Morikawa’s pre-Open equipment adjustments
![](https://www.golfwrx.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/MorikawaP790-1.jpg)
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.
Three years later, Morikawa has once again changed his irons to deal with the unique Scottish turf.
Morikawa has been using TaylorMade P730 blade short irons (7-PW), P7MC mid irons (5-6) and a TaylorMade “Proto” 4-iron with a cavity-back construction this year.
However, he switched into a new set of TaylorMade P7CB irons (5-PW) before finishing T4 at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open, to go along with his familiar “Proto” 4-iron. TaylorMade’s P7CB irons are the finalized versions of the “Proto” 4-iron that Morikawa has been using, except they remain unreleased to retail.
According to TaylorMade, Morikawa switched into a full set of the new P7CB irons to aid with turf interaction, just like he did prior to his 2021 Open victory.
Morikawa is honing in on his winning formula overseas.
Morikawa also has switched from his usual TaylorMade Qi10 5-wood to a lower-launching TaylorMade P790 3-iron equipped with a Project X HZRDUS 105 Hybrid shaft. The loft of the club has been bent down to 19 degrees.
TaylorMade says that Morikawa switched into the new driving iron In order to “have an option to hit something lower that will roll out in the fairways.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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Pingback: Finally, it’s Fowler | Augusta Blog
Hector
May 6, 2012 at 9:51 pm
It was a great finale and Rickie didn’t choke. Great job and congrats on a great victory!