News
Top pros call out NCAA over canceled women’s regional debacle
12 of the 18 schools competing at the NCAA Women’s Regional in Baton Rouge, La., were left angry and heartbroken this week after the NCAA pulled the plug on the event to put an end to their dreams of competing at the NCAA Women’s Championship.
The event was due to be a 54-hole contest played over Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but was initially delayed after a deluge of rain hit the course over the weekend.
Officials had hoped to play 18 holes on Wednesday to decide who would qualify but instead adjudged the course unplayable and canceled the event in its entirety.
Without a single ball being hit, this decision meant that the top six seeds in the regional advance to nationals and the top three individuals of the six that were competing.
Those teams are LSU, Mississippi, Baylor, Oregon, Maryland and Alabama, with the following players Karen Fredgaard, Houston; Nataliya Guseva, Miami (Fla.); and Hanna Alberto, Sam Houston.
Eliminating seeds 7-18: Oregon State, Houston, Miami (Fla.), North Texas, Purdue, Mississippi State, Tulsa, Sam Houston State, Kennesaw State, East Tennessee State, Jacksonville State and Quinnipiac.
In a statement outside the clubhouse of The University Club, Brad Hurlbut, the Director of Athletics at Fairleigh Dickinson, announced the news saying:
“Look, this is one of the most gut-wrenching decisions and announcements that I’ve ever been a part of. Even though the course is playable, it’s not playable at a championship level.”
The statement was understandably received with shock and anger by the players of the teams who felt cheated out of the opportunity to win a place at the NCAA Women’s Championship, with cries of “You should be ashamed of yourselves” and “Thank you for ending our careers!” directed at Hurlbut.
So here it is, the LSU regionals at Baton Rouge has been cancelled due to the course being “PLAYABLE BUT NOT AT A CHAMPIONSHIP LEVEL”!!!!! Disgraceful how this whole week has been handled!!!! Every player worked so hard for this week and this is how we are treated!!! SHAMEFUL!!! pic.twitter.com/Z8FGrfYKLN
— Sara Byrne (@sarabyrne01) May 12, 2021
The decision to cancel the event has also caused indignation amongst some of the most prominent names in professional golf. Here’s a look at the reaction of some of those on social media:
The NCAA Women’s Championship takes place in two weeks as the fallout from this week’s controversial decision continues.
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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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MhtLion
May 17, 2021 at 3:33 pm
What the ….!!!! That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve seen or heard in sports lately. What does that even mean??? How can someone or some organization severely lack a responsibility? Why are they in those places and what qualifies them to be? It would be gut-wrenching to be in the shoes of those college golfers. I suppose the true intent was to protect the wet course from any damages. It’s just insane in my opinion.
Chad B.
May 17, 2021 at 10:17 am
The NCAA failed these kids again.
Attaway riggsy
May 16, 2021 at 8:14 pm
Riggs from Barstool summoned up some BDE and put together a tourney on short notice for the teams that won’t go.
https://twitter.com/RiggsBarstool/status/1393208285470232580
Big GG
May 15, 2021 at 6:57 am
NOBODY is watching anyway.
Brian
May 15, 2021 at 10:10 am
I hope one day you are blessed with a daughter.
Pro
May 15, 2021 at 10:35 am
This guy should not be allowed to reproduce.
Big GG
May 17, 2021 at 6:27 am
Another useless liberal heard from.
Big GG
May 17, 2021 at 12:19 pm
Keep dreaming sh_tball
jake
May 15, 2021 at 10:31 am
This type of comment should be met with the cat o nine tails. Not everything revolves around you on your recliner with your beer in hand. Its for the girls who’ve worked harder than you can comprehend to get there. Get struck by lightning.
Kk33
May 17, 2021 at 9:19 am
Whatever dude, go smack your poor wife around… if you actually have one
Dave Truman
May 15, 2021 at 5:54 am
Well, the NCAA has blundered again. First in the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tourney and now Women’s NCAA Golf.
Jon
May 18, 2021 at 8:57 am
Don’t forget the NCAA Volleyball tournament. It’s just atrocious, at best, of how the NCAA has handled these championships. It’s time for a change…a huge change.
BD57
May 15, 2021 at 2:27 am
The NCAA does this when the Finals aren’t for TWO WEEKS?
Really stupid decision.
CrashTestDummy
May 14, 2021 at 2:36 pm
Why didn’t they get the player’s opinions before making the decision? If the course is playable, let them compete. Simple.
KP
May 14, 2021 at 9:56 pm
Exactly, I completely agree. This was lazy leadership, more could have been done. The course was playable and everyone would be playing under the same conditions. The course doesn’t have to be in “championship level” conditions to be a fair test of skill.