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Tour Rundown: Long, Li, Lehman and more

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The first full week of tournament golf of 2019 brought a few surprises and some familiar faces. Phil Mickelson began the week in the California desert with a 12-birdie 60, at an event known for producing low scores. Golfers also gathered in Abu Dhabi, central Florida and Hawaii as the European, LPGA and Champions tours sent their first shots of the new year flying. Could Mickelson hold on for victory? Who might join him? Did the Web.Com tour event really begin on Sunday?In a few minutes, you’ll have all the answers.

PGA Tour: first first-time winner of 2019 arrives at Desert Classic

If someone were to have suggested to Adam Long that he would birdie neither par five on the final 9 holes of the Desert Classic, yet still have a chance to win, Long might have scratched his head and chuckled. He was chasing a 3rd-round leader named Mickelson, after all, and pars on the birdie holes would not be good enough to haul Lefty in. Six scores of 3 on the other inward holes were what the golf gods had in mind for the 31-year old. A final-round 65 brought Long his first PGA Tour victory.

For a while, Talor Gooch seemed likely to overtake everyone, but a bogey on the 15th dropped him to 4th at 24-under par. After a tumultuous front nine, Mickelson settled down to a 2-under 34 on the back. A narrow miss on a final-hole birdie putt held the southpaw at 25-under, tied with Adam Hadwin and one stroke behind Long. And the winner? Watch the video below. After his unbelievable approach, Long converted the birdie to finish atop the podium at 26-under par.

European Tour: Lowry opens 2019 with victory in Abu Dhabi

Shane Lowry opened his week with a 10-birdie 62. Unlike Mickelson, he was able to push through to the finish line and capture his rth European Tour title this week. The outward nine saw a massive lead change, as Richard Sterne erased Lowry’s 3-shot, 54-hole lead, adding another 3 strokes on top. Over the final six holes, however, the tournament was decided. Sterne played the stretch in +2, while was 2 shot below par. In the blink of an eye, almost, Sterne’s then-2 stroke advantage evaporated into a final deficit of one, searing stroke. Certainly great viewing, but not the best medicine for either player’s psyche. Early in the season, we see these types of lead changes, as players regain their winning ways. Although Joost Luiten and Louis Oosthuizen each shot mid-60s on Sunday to reach -15, they were never playing for anything but the 3rd-place tie they achieved.

LPGA Tour: Ji wins Diamond Resorts TOC with 2 strokes in hand

Eun-hee Ji began round 4 in Lake Buena Vista, FL, with a pair to spare over Nelly Korda. She ended the day in the same position, but the runner-up was Mirim Lee, and the result might have been less palatable for Ji. After opening with bogeys on the first 2 holes, Ji, recovered with birdies at 3 and 4. Korda didn’t make a birdie until hole 16 and 2 bogeys at 8 and 9 essentially took her out of the running. Ji turned for home in +1 on the day, while Lee played the front half even. Not much happened to the 2-shot margin throughout most of the afternoon. Each time Ji would make a birdie, Lee would counter, and vice-versa. At the 15th, however, Ji’s bogey and Lee’s 16th-hole birdie reduced the lead to 1. As champions do, Ji rebounded once more with birdie at 16, and both players parred to the clubhouse. After winning major titles in her first two seasons on tour (2008 and 9), Ji has now won each of the last 3 seasons. Sunday’s victory was her fifth career LPGA title. Lee sought her 4th tour win, and first since 2017, but will have to wait at least one more event.

PGA Tour Champions: Lehman overtakes Toms for Mitsubishi Electric title

Scorecard summaries offer interesting patterns to the lazy viewer. David Toms entered round 3 at Hualalai with a 4-shot cushion over Tom Lehman. Toms bogeyed his first and last holes on Sunday. Those two strokes could have turned a 1-stroke defeat into the slimmest of victory margins, but there they were, attested and signed. Toms opened with matching 65s, and looked to all the golfing world like the first Champions Tour winner of the new year. Lehman opened with a see-saw 69, lowlighted by a pair of bogeys. On Saturday and Sunday, he became Toms, closing with 14 birdies against 0 bogeys, and his own pair of 65s. Lehman’s final birdie came at the 16th, and he must have envisioned a playoff against the former LSU golfer, until Toms got greedy at the last. Faced with a long birdie putt, Toms bombed his effort 7 feet past and missed the return train as well. Lehman had a tap-in for the win, his 12th on the senior circuit. Bernhard Langer served notice that he will challenge again in 2019, finishing 3rd at -14, 2 behind Toms and 3 from the trophy.

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Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

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  1. Dan Ellis

    Jan 27, 2019 at 1:24 pm

    I wish they would post WITB from the Champions tour guys.
    They swing closer to us and I would like to see their gear…

    Come on Guys

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Equipment

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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Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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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.

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Equipment

Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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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 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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