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Five things we learned: Saturday at the PGA

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When his lead reached a quintet of strokes after nine holes on Saturday, I was desperately searching for five different words that began with the voiceless labi0dental fricative phoneme /f/ to use to describe Phil Mickelson’s day-three. Why bother writing about anyone else if Lefty was going to run away with the tournament the day before it ended?

1. What might have been

After carving birdie on half of his first 10 holes, Mickelson became the first competitor to reach double digits under par this tournament. Three hours later, he had given back three strokes and barely kept a hold on the lead. By day’s end, he was one stroke in front of Brooks Koepka and had allowed a host of players back into contention. Had Mickelson been able to rocksteady to the clubhouse at 10 under, he would have compelled everyone to go for broke on Sunday.

2. The five-shot addendum

It is incredibly difficult to come back from more than five shots in the final round of the major championship. So many sticks have to fall into place: the leader has to crumble, the chasers have to play just not well enough to win, and the long shot hast to play the round of his life. If we hold to the five-shot addendum, nine golfers have a chance at winning the 2021 PGA Championship on Sunday. Let’s have a look at them and find out who we pick to win tomorrow.

3. Bryson, Joaquin, and Gary

You have two recent U.S. Open champions and one of the rising stars in the game in this ballot. DeChambeau’s length won’t help him as much as at other courses with so much trouble lurking.  Woodland has been adrift since winning the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, although that one sort of came out of nowhere. Difference here is, he’s coming from behind. Of the three, the young Chilean is our bet to take a run at the title on Sunday.

4. Branden, Kevin, and Christian

This is the trio with everything to gain and nothing to lose. Not a single major title among the three, with Grace coming closest at the U.S. Open in 2015 at Chambers Bay. Streelman is thrilled to even be here and is the type of one-off winner that the PGA Championship has a penchant for identifying. Bezuidenhout has a lot of upside, but his first time in true contention in a major suggests that he will spend most of the day sorting his emotions. The heat of the moment will be too strong for two-thirds of this grouping, but if we had to pick one, it would be Grace.

5. Louis, Brooks, and Phil

Each member of this trio has a major championship, and Koepka and Mickelson each has four or more. It seems impossible that one of them will not step up on Sunday and grab the Wanamaker trophy by both handles. Koepka is the guy we’d pick at any other time, but is the repaired knee reliable? Phil is the veteran in the group, and normally that would count for much, but is he too veteran? We’ll see. Finally, we have Louis. Eleven years removed from his win at St. Andrews, will the scar tissue that developed since be too restrictive? Perhaps.

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, much like Augusta National, simply will not allow someone to take an early lead and hold on for a victory. The champion will play 18 incredible holes Sunday, but who will it be?

Branden Grace. Why would we pick a likely favorite?

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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Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge

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Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX

3-wood: Titleist TS3 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX

7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Project X Denali Black 80 TX

Irons: Titleist T250 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F @47, 50-08F @51, 54-10S @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48), S400 (47)

Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X5 Tour Prototype

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider

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There must be something in the water. Or potentially on the greens. A whole host of big-time players decided that the Charles Schwab Challenge was the perfect place to test out new putters.

With the 2026 U.S. Open just around the corner, defending champion J.J. Spaun made a surprising switch away from his center-shafted Df3 and into L.A.B. Golf’s OZ.1i HS – the heel-shafted mallet putter.

“Just something I kind of wanted to change the way the putter was looking, just a completely different look than the DF3 that I’ve been using for the last year and a half,” Spaun told GolfWRX about the swap. “So it’s just easier to line up for me with less onset looking design, and it’s just something I felt like switching it up and seeing how it goes.”

You can find more about the putter and the reasoning behind Spaun’s change here.

Robert MacIntyre also decided to change the flatstick at Colonial Country Club. He’s using a custom Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R. The Scotty team created a specially-milled face featuring horizontal grooves and shortened the plumber’s neck to increase toe hang.

Another custom feature of the build is the welded wings added to the rear of the putter, similar to those found on the Phantom 11 head.

It’s potentially part of a major overhaul to his bag. The Scot has recently switched from the Titleist Pro V1 to the Pro V1x golf ball, added the new GTS2 driver, and is currently testing a GTS 3-wood that could replace his ancient TaylorMade AeroBurner 3-wood.

Ludvig Åberg joined the trio of superstars making alterations on the greens. He’s added a Scotty Cameron Phantom 3.2.

It’s not Åberg’s first putter switch of the season. He had been using different versions of his usual Odyssey Versa #1 head to try to get better speed control on the greens.

Currently, a Tour-only offering, the Phantom 3 head is a half-moon mallet shape. Like the previous version that GolfWRX captured at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which Åberg never put in play, the current version appears to feature the Studio Carbon Steel face insert and chain-link face milling. Instead of the all-black version one, Åberg’s current flatstick is in the metal finish.

Rico Hoey’s make-shift Jailbird

Some of the best builds on Tour have a certain Frankenstein theme to them.

Odyssey decided to do this when breeding a turtle and a bird together. The result, Rico Hoey’s latest broomstick.

The custom Jailbird S2S Tri-Hot head includes an aluminium-milled insert from the unreleased TRTL head, which the team machined down to fit the face of the Jailbird after removing the usual Ai-Dual insert.

The team also filled the wings of the putter with epoxy to redistribute mass away from the face, with the metal insert weighing more than the original.

Hoey was also spotted with a custom Damascus Milled Jailbird Mini broomstick. Check out the full gallery here.

Brant Snedeker’s full WITB 

Arguably, the PGA Tour’s feel-good story of the year so far was 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker returning to the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly 8 years.

His victory didn’t come without some equipment updates, either. The Presidents Cup Captain added the 2016 M2 driver equipped with a Fujikura Speeder Evolution 661. It’s a shaft that’s even older than the driver.

The historic driver setup might have been added because Snedeker was missing some antique vibes. He recently switched out his 2-decade-old Odyssey Rossie White Hot XG for a TaylorMade Spider Tour X.

He first put the Spider in play at the Cognizant Classic. Still, at the Valspar Championship, he tested TaylorMade’s True Path Alignment versus without, and preferred the added aim benefits he was getting. In previous testing, the biggest thing Snedeker noticed was the launch and how quickly the ball got to true roll from the Spider and its Pure Roll insert compared to anything else he had tried.

Check out Snedeker’s full what’s in the bag during this week’s episode of “Inside the Ropes” from Colonial.

 

Everything’s bigger in Texas

TaylorMade Golf chose the second stop of a Texas two-step in Dallas as the spot to launch the tour’s latest Spider putter.

On-site Monday at Colonial Country Club, GolfWRX’s Tour Photographer Greg Moore captured the new Spider ZT Max putter ahead of the Charles Schwab Challenge.

The Max version of TaylorMade’s zero-torque putter style has a larger footprint than the original ZT, which will likely lead to a higher MOI thanks to wider perimeter weighting.

The original ZT is made of high-density 303 stainless steel at the front, and then a lower-density 6061 aerospace aluminum on the back to create a high-MOI foundation, with a center shaft featuring slight forward shaft lean and 25mm onset behind the leading edge.

The Spider ZT Max also appears to use the ZT cambered sole, which is also seen on the recently Tour-launched Spider Tour, Tour X, F and V models, which were first spotted at the RBC Heritage.

Brian Harman gamed the original Spider ZT for his victory last year at the 2025 Valero Texas Open, and the putter also saw victory on the DP World Tour in the hands of Michael Kim for his FedEx Open de France win.

Check out the full gallery here.

Odds and Ends

Project X officially Tour launched the Titan Yellow shaft, just a few days after Wyndham Clark played it for the first time and won The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The shaft features a smoother feel in the handle compared to past Project X wood shafts, along with a firm midsection and firm tip. The Synex Technology allows a player to feel more load in transition without losing the feel of the clubhead. Titleist launched the GTS300 back at Quail Hollow, and just a few weeks later, it’s in the bag of Justin Thomas. Could this be a test run for Shinnecock?

 

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the ShopRite LPGA

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GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore was on site in Galloway, New Jersey, ahead of the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern to snap some WITB photos and more.

Check out links to all the photos below!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

 

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