News
5 things we learned Thursday at the U.S. Women’s Open
There shall be no overstating the chaos and pathos of 2020. In that strange fashion that tragedy has, we’ve also been offered a glimpse into the new and the different. In the world of golf, that meant a men’s U.S. Open in September, a Masters in November, and this week, a women’s open in December.
To get the putt rolling, two courses at Champions Golf Club in Houston are in play, the first time this has happened in tournament history. Lack of light compelled the USGA to add this facet to the tournament. Beyond that, it’s all about the players and their feats of strength #Festivus.
Let’s check in on some #WomenWorthWatching and let’s #WatchWomenWork this week at the USGA Women’s Open. Here are five things that we learned on Thursday of the 75th playing of this national championship.
1. Olson leads the pack, thanks to one sweet swing
Amy Olson, a former USGA girls junior champion, took a pass at a 140-yard shot, and it disappeared. Teeing off on the back nine, the Minnesota native stood a +1 through six holes, thanks to a bogey at the 11th, her second on the day. That discrepancy went away when she holed her tee ball at the Cypress Creek course’s 16th hole, and moved to one under. The ace was the only one on the day over both courses, and was quickly followed by a birdie at the the next. Olson added additional stroke-savers at the 1st and the 8th, on her inward half, and reached four-under par. Olson wasn’t the only one to get that low, but she was the only one to stay there. With a game built for USGA courses, expect Olson to stick around for a few more days.
2. Khang and Saso fired and fell back
Yuka Saso was the latest to challenge Olson. The golfer from the Phillipines reached 4 under after nine holes at the Cypress Creek layout, but gave two shots back on the inward half. Khan got even farther, reaching five-under par after her 10th hole, on the Jackrabbit trace. Like Saso, her trek homeward was less than memorable. Khan made a pair of bogeys, then finished off the day with an miserable double bogey at the 18th. The Champions Golf Club courses will afford opportunities to pick strokes up, but it will be the ones that can get away that will determine a champion.
3. Jutanugarn is biggest name near top of leader board
Moriya, that is. Not sister Ariya, the 2018 US Women’s Open champion, but her one year-older sibling. Moriya sits at 3-under par, tied for second spot with Hinako Shibuno of Japan and A Lim Kim of Korea. Well, maybe Shibuno deserves the bigger-name nod. After all, she won the 2019 British Open, out of nowhere. What we’re saying is, after day one, there is a shortage of wattage on the marquee. Sung Hyun Park, Jennifer Kupcho, and the aforementioned Ariya are closest, each at 1-under par, in a tie for 12th. We suspect that Friday, rather than Saturday, will be moving day at this year’s national championship.
4. Who really struggled?
Maria Fassi did battle with Jennifer Kupcho at the inaugural Augusta Women’s Amateur in 2019. Today, she posted +12. Georgia Hall, the 2018 British Open titleist, signed for +10. Angela Stanford, last week’s winner and a Fort Worth native, struggled to a +9 tally. The hottest golfer on the planet, Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen, played her final ten holes in +5 to drop to +4 (might have been jet lag?) Three amateurs (Pauline Roussin, Amelia Garvey, and Maja Stark) all recorded one-under rounds of 70, making the struggles of some, inconceivable. The Women’s Open identifies a new champion as often as it recognizes a storied one. This week might be one of the former, unless a lot happens, and soon.
5. Who lays in wait?
Have a look at the even-par crowd. Inbee Park, Nasa Hataoka, Lydia Ko, and three talented Spaniards (Iturrioz, Ciganda, and Muñoz) along with top amateur Gabriela Ruffels, posted scores of 71 on Thursday. The winner could easily come from that septet. We’ll go out on a limb and pick Danielle Kang, one shot farther back, at one-over par. Kang is the world’s top-ranked player, and doesn’t suffer over-par rounds gladly. Expect a tidy 67 on Friday, as her competitors struggle to match her exploits.
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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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Jim
Dec 11, 2020 at 11:34 am
Any Olson is from North Dakota, not Minnesota.
Ronald Montesano
Dec 11, 2020 at 6:49 pm
See below
A golfer
Dec 11, 2020 at 10:33 am
“ Kang is the world’s top-ranked player” actually Kang is #4 on Rolex ranking and #3 on LPGA money list. Jin Young Ko is #1 on Rolex and Inbee Park is #1 on money list.
Ronald Montesano
Dec 11, 2020 at 6:49 pm
See below.
A golfer
Dec 11, 2020 at 10:29 am
“The ace was the only one on the day over both courses.” Actually Yu Jin Sung aced #4 at Cypress Creek
Ronald Montesano
Dec 11, 2020 at 6:50 pm
So you guys are saying I need an second set of eyeballs on my words, huh? Can’t dispute that. Hopefully the rest of the text was a bit more accurate. Thanks for pointing out the mistakes. Always can’t believe I made them in hindsight.