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5 things we learned Thursday at the U.S. Open
The U.S. Open at Winged Foot’s West Course was a long time in coming. From the impending postponement in late May, to the announcement in June that a September weekend was in the works, the golf world has waited with held breath to see the A.W. Tillinghast masterpiece that was given a tight restoration by Gil Hanse.
Now that Open week is here, the golf world has four days to frolic in the glory of golden-age golf course design and how it presents a challenge to today’s physical golfers and their technological weaponry.
It’s Thursday evening, so it’s time to share the 5 things we learned on day one at the 2020 U.S. Open.
1. The one that got away still gnaws at JT
Justin Thomas had a very real chance to win the the 2017 Open at Erin Hills. He tied for 9th after holding the 54-hole lead, and learned lessons that would compel him to win a major two months later, at the PGA Championship. Thomas craves the carving of another major title on his record, and he opened with 65 to lead a trio of golfers by one shot. Thomas had one bogey on the day, a tugged 4-iron that led to a 4 at the par-three third hole. The Kentucky native responded with five subsequent birdies, to complement the one he made at the opening hole, and stands atop the leader board with 54 holes to play. Thomas benefited from a morning tee time, and we will see how he does on Friday, when he putts greens that will have seen myriad morning footsteps.
2. An ace gets Reed in the mix again
Patrick Reed is an enigmatic figure to end all enigmatic figures. Search the his name with the word controversy and you will spend more than one evening sifting through the reports. It’s a shame, as the Texas-born golfer really does have game. He showed grit in international competition, and claimed a major title of his own at the 2018 Masters. On Thursday at Winged Foot west, Reed electrified the viewers with this sequence: 6-3-1. After making double bogey at the 5th, the Augusta State alum rebounded with birdie at the 6th, then knocked a short iron down at the 7th for a one-hop hole in one. If Reed wishes to shed the villain tag, and he may not, he will need to acknowledge that he has made some bad decisions along the way. Come to think of it, maybe the villain tag is what motivates him.
3. The world represents
Tied with Reed and Matthew Wolff at four-under par is Belgium’s Thomas Pieters. Just behind them, at minus-three, are Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood, and Louis Oosthuizen. Let’s see, that’s Northern Ireland, England, and South Africa. Another stroke back is Rafael Cabrera Bello, a Spaniard, albeit not the one we expected to be low Iberian after round one. In any case, it’s the diverse games of the world’s greats that make the U.S. Open so interesting. South Africans from Gary Player to Retief Goosen have fared spectacularly well at the Open, as has the contingent from the United Kingdom, over the years.
4. The Phairy Tale will not be written
At least not the one that annoys you with the “ph” allophone. Mighty Casey, also known as Phil Mickelson, will not win the 2020 U.S. Open, 14 years after he gave the 2006 playing to Geoff Ogilvy in gift wrapping. Phabulous Phil opened with two birdies, the proceeded to bogey hole 3 through 5, then 8, then 5 more on the back nine … oh, and he tossed in a double bogey on the 14th for added pain. Mickelson will not be around for the weekend, and he will not win a U.S. Open in his storied career. He will be resigned to the list of greats who almost, but not quite, won the career grand slam. He joins Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, and Tom Watson in this pantheon, and it is sad, but not unexpected.
5. The amateurs and the unknowns
Speaking of electricity, Davis Thompson (who doesn’t play for cash) reached 4-deep at the eleventh green, thanks to intelligent play. He wobbled home with three bogeys, but finds himself in a tie for 14th with, among others, fellow amateur (and local hero) John Pak. Taiwan’s Chun An Yu made two birdies and an eagle in a four hole stretch on the front nine (his inward half) and sits a shot in arrears, at even par. Vegas suggests they will fade away, although one or two will last long enough to see the weekend. Still, the amateurs remind us of days of yore, when they used to challenge for the title.
We mentioned Matthew Wolff, but we failed to cite Jason Kokrak, Brendon Todd, Harris English, and a few others. Those unknown golfers, those Andy Norths and Michael Campbells, who find their game for a week, and win precious little else, are an equal part of U.S. Open lore with the amateurs and the greats. Will a Shaun Norris or an Erik Van Rooyen hoist the trophy on Sunday? Again, probably not, but it will be fun to watch.
TR’s pick after day one: Xander Schauffele. He’s at minus-two, and made four birdies today. He loves this pressure, and is primed to add a major title to his growing resume.
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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.
- Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
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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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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.
So, with a couple of weeks off following his latest start at the 2024 RBC Heritage, Thomas sought to re-address his driver setup with the remote help of Titleist Tour fitting expert J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. About two weeks ago, Thomas and Van Wezenbeeck reviewed his recent driver stats, and discussed via phone call some possible driver and shaft combinations for him to try.
After receiving Van Wezenbeeck’s personalized shipment of product options while at home, Thomas found significant performance improvements with Titleist’s TSR2 head, equipped with Thomas’ familiar Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX shaft.
Compared to Thomas’ longtime TSR3 model, the TSR2 has a larger footprint and offers slightly higher spin and launch characteristics.
According to Van Wezenbeeck, Thomas has picked up about 2-3 mph of ball speed, to go along with 1.5 degrees higher launch and more predictable mishits.
“I’d say I’d been driving it fine, not driving it great, so I just wanted to, honestly, just test or try some stuff,” Thomas said on Tuesday in an interview with GolfWRX.com at Quail Hollow Club. “I had used that style of head a couple years ago (Thomas used a TSi2 driver around 2021); I know it’s supposed to have a little more spin. Obviously, yeah, I’d love to hit it further, but if I can get a little more spin and have my mishits be a little more consistent, I felt like obviously that’d be better for my driving…
“This (TSR2) has been great. I’ve really, really driven it well the week I’ve used it. Just hitting it more solid, I don’t know if it’s the look of it or what it is, but just a little bit more consistent with the spin numbers. Less knuckle-ball curves. It has been fast. Maybe just a little faster than what I was using. Maybe it could be something with the bigger head, maybe mentally it looks more forgiving.”
Head over to PGATour.com for the full article.
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GG
Sep 18, 2020 at 2:26 am
you forgot number 6. Spieth lost a lost cause.
Ronald Montesano
Sep 18, 2020 at 9:47 am
It’s incredible that he went chasing distance, having won 3 or 4 major titles at such a young age. I wonder if his pro just agreed, or if the pro is to blame. Such a stupid thing to do. If you’re built for distance, you chase it. If not, you don’t mess with it.