News
What you need to know for Round 4 of the U.S. Open
Yesterday it was written that the multiple and diverse story lines at the halfway point of the 115th U.S. Open Championship would be the stuff of dreams for any script writer. Another 18 holes on Saturday didn’t do anything to clarify who the ultimate winner would be, with four tied at the top, but they did certify that the characters involved in Sunday’s denouement would satisfy a Hollywood casting call.
To begin, you have your Young Western Gun in Jordan Spieth. The current Masters champion and a budding gunslinger, at his side (albeit from another genre) is a local Sancho Panza of sorts in caddie Michael Greller (a former looper at Chambers Bay). Spieth survived on Saturday with his first over-par score (71) of the week. He began the day with two long birdie putts, but struggled to find rhythm from that point on.
[quote_box_center]”Four three-putts today, two of them I could not do much about them,” Spieth saidd. “The other two were unforced. All in all it was just a little bit off. But plenty of birdies. Just need to limit the mistakes tomorrow.”[/quote_box_center]
Spieth should be in the midst of the fray as Sunday’s shadows grow longer.
The wounded hero emerged on Friday in the guise of Jason Day. Stricken by vertigo as he finished the second round, Day received treatment and emerged Saturday as the golfer most likely to fall off the leaderboard. With bogies on two of his initial four holes, the Aussie was reeling.
[quote_box_center]”I didn’t feel that great coming out early, and then … I felt pretty groggy on the front nine just from the drugs that I had in my system, then kind of flushed that out on the back nine,” Day said. “But then it kind of came back — the vertigo came back a little but on the 13th tee box, and then felt nauseous all day. I started shaking on the 16th tee box and then just tried to get it, really. Just wanted to get in.” [/quote_box_center]
Day somehow stabilized with five consecutive pars, then embarked on the nine of the tournament thus far. He played the inward half in 31 brief strokes, including birdies on three of his final four holes to book passage in Sunday’s final pairing as he attempts to better his three runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open.
The troubled matinee idol, a.k.a. Dustin Johnson. Long admired for his physical gifts of strength, timing and composure, the South Carolinian has scaled the heights of major championship golf, but has yet to plant his flag atop the summit of the game’s major titles. Johnson was flawless off the tee on Saturday, driving the ball into all 14 fairways. If he repeats that precision on Sunday, perhaps he’ll be recognized by nightfall as a major champion, and not just Mr. Paulina Gretzky.
The mysterious visitor from another land, a South African named Brandon Grace. Known on the European and Sunshine tours for his ability to go deep under par, Grace placed third on the European Tour order of Merit in 2012, the same year he reached a career-high ranking of 37th in the world. This year, Grace has won twice on the Euro Tour. Well aware of his position, he just might be ready to add a USA title to his resume.
“I’M STOKED,” Grace said. “I CAN’T WAIT. TOMORROW IS GOING TO BE A GOOD ONE. LIKE I SAID, THIS IS WHAT WE PLAY GOLF FOR.”
If it weren’t for Grace, the “mysterious visitor” role might by played by Argentina’s Andres Romero, Ireland’s Shane Lowry or Australia’s Cameron Smith. None of the trio is a known commodity in the U.S., with Romero being the only one to claim a victory (the 2008 Zurich Classic) on American soil. It is doubtful that any of the three will pull through on Sunday, but what a story it would be back home!
Gone are the massive, pre-tournament favorites and hopefuls. Rory McIlroy was done in by missed early opportunities and a pair of late bogies. Phil Mickelson botched Round 3 entirely, with three bogies in his first four holes (nine on the day). Justin Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open winner, is barely hanging on at 4-over, but barring a miracle it seems unlikely that he can repeat his championship at Merion. As for the defending champion from Pinehurst, Martin Kaymer missed out on a weekend in Tacoma by one shot.
Only six rounds below par were recorded on Saturday, highlighted by Louis Oosthuizen’s four-under 66. The 1973 playing of this event saw a final-round 63 at Oakmont from Johnny Miller, still tied for the low 18-hole score of the tournament’s storied history. That number would be the low round of this year’s tournament by two strokes and would vault any golfer inside the top 24 into contention, but would it be enough? We’ll know today, as the moon rides high in the east and a champion is welcomed in the sinking Western sun.
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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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Ronald Montesano
Jun 21, 2015 at 11:41 am
Hard not to, Christosterone. Evokes Venturi’s struggles and triumph in 1964.
Christosterone
Jun 21, 2015 at 12:46 pm
Perfect parallel….Day is just so easy to root for. Plus his kids were born in Dallas so that makes his offspring fellow Texans 🙂
I hope for a good match with Spieth, DJ, Grace, Day and perhaps someone around 1 or 2 over making a birdie barrage harkening back to Millers 63 at oakmont….
If only someone would wear millers red, white and blue patent leather shoes with bell bottomed houndstooth pants then all would be right in the world!
Christosterone
Jun 21, 2015 at 10:15 am
I love Days swing…has a lot of Norman at impact but obviously stacks onto his left side more than Norman’s iconic reverse C leaned back finish…
But they have very similar impact positions with head way back and low…
Certainly as an American I tend towards rooting for fellow citizens but I find myself cheering for Day this weekend.