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Morning 9: Swarming crowd “dinged” Koepka’s knee | Phil’s last-minute equipment switch | Texts from Phil’s mom

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3 years ago

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Good Tuesday morning, golf fans.
1. Swarming crowd “dinged” Koepka’s knee
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“I’m not happy,” Koepka said. “I don’t know if there’s a right word I can say on here without getting fined, but it hurts a little bit.”
  • “That wasn’t the only thing hurting. As Mickelson and Koepka fought their way through a swarming crowd that had pushed passed security and formed a massive mob in the 18th fairway and around the final green, Koepka said his surgically repaired right knee got “dinged a few times” by people in the crowd…”
  • “I don’t think anybody really understands,” he continued, “There’s five people kind of standing by your knee, you get a little skittish. Like I don’t mind waiting or being in that crowd but getting my — I don’t know, it felt like somebody tried to, I don’t know what the deal was, but it’s what it is. Be putting it in ice today. It feels like s— right now.”
2. Kyler Aubrey’s Phil Mickelson connection
Golfweek’s Julie Williams…”Buried in Kyler Aubrey’s closet is a Masters flag from 2013 with the signature of just one player: Phil Mickelson. When Aubrey met Mickelson and his wife Amy that year at Augusta National, Mickelson immediately bent down to sign Aubrey’s flag. When Mickelson accidentally wrote the wrong name on it – then subsequently scribbled it out – a horrified Amy promised the Aubrey family that her husband would sign a new one and they’d have it shipped.”
  • “Sure enough, the flag showed up a few weeks later to the Aubrey’s home in Statesboro, Georgia. On Sunday at the PGA Championship, Aubrey acquired another piece of Mickelson memorabilia. He and his dad Josh were just inside the ropes by No. 5 green at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course when Mickelson holed out from the sand, securing the birdie that helped him separate himself.”
  • “When we were there we could actually see a perfect view of Phil making the shot and we were just screaming. When Phil made it, he came up to us and said here’s my lucky ball, I want you guys to have it, thank you for coming,” Josh said.”
3. Further reflections on Phil
Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”The flabby Phil of 2006 never would have lasted this long. That’s why he shredded his body, developing a six-pack for the first time. That’s why he eliminated foods that left him achy and inflamed, fasting for 36 hours each week. That’s why he stayed hungry by challenging the young guns to money games.”
  • “When he was 20 going to college, he never worked this hard,” said his former college coach-turned-longtime agent Steve Loy.”
  • ….”What kept Mickelson from challenging wasn’t so much a physical limitation but a mental hurdle. For the past few years he’s lamented focus issues that led to uncommitted swings and unforced errors. Recently he began training his brain through 45-hole practice days and longer meditation sessions – breakthroughs that left him encouraged about the future. “Just the ability to quiet my mind and get rid of all the exterior noise,” he said. “I don’t want to get all spiritual, but that’s been the biggest thing for me.”
4. Phil’s last-minute switch
Our piece for PGATour.com…”The 50-year-old’s equipment set up at Kiawah Island included a new Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond driver with just 5.5 degrees of loft, but it was far from smooth sailing for Mickelson’s equipment throughout the week. He had not one, but two, clubs crack at Kiawah Island, including one that became unplayable as he was preparing for his final-round tee time.”
“You can’t swing it as hard as I hit it and not expect them to crack,” Mickelson joked in Sunday’s post-victory press conference. “It happens. In fact, if it doesn’t happen, you start to question the manufacturer, hey, aren’t we making this as hot as we can?”
  • “The first club to go was Mickelson’s 11.5-degree TaylorMade Original One “Mini Driver,” which he uses as a 2-wood. It caved in during the third round.”
  • “Little things happen, but (Saturday), I hit a couple of squirrelly shots on 12 and 13 and the face on my 2-wood flattened,” Mickelson said. “Fortunately, I had a backup head and swapped it out and hit it great today.”
  • “Mickelson’s 2-iron was the next club to go, but it was not as easy of a fix. And it happened minutes before his final-round tee time.”
  • …”In lieu of the 2-iron, Phil decided to swap in a Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero 4-wood with 16.5 degrees of loft.”
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5. Mickelson’s mindset
Daniel Rapaport for Golf Digest…”The first step toward advanced-age greatness is passion. Simple passion. It’s a prerequisite. Without it, none of this is possible. Coming into this week, Phil Mickelson had 44 wins on the PGA Tour, five majors, a beautiful family, a gazillion dollars in career earnings…you get the picture. He did not need this by any stretch. He could’ve easily rode off into the sunset, slowly converting into a ceremonial golfer. Eight starts a year. Play the majors, maybe Torrey, the Memorial, shoot some commercials, call it a career. For normal people, this option grows more enticing with each failure. Lefty had gone 18 straight starts without a top 20; that would crush the spirit of most every 50-year-old, and would you blame them?”
  • “…My desire to play is the same,” he said Sunday night. “I’ve never been driven by exterior things. I’ve always been intrinsically motivated because I love to compete, I love playing the game. I love having opportunities to play against the best at the highest level. That’s what drives me, and I think that that’s what is—the belief that I could still do it inspired me to work harder.”
6. Texts from mom
Chris Bumbaca for USAToday…“They always say Mom knows best, no matter how old you are and even if her advice goes against your own catchphrases.”
  • …”That didn’t stop his mother, Mary, from texting his sister, Tina, some final words of wisdom as Mickelson’s round wound down and he clung to a lead. Mary tried to use Tina as a messenger because she knew “Lefty” wouldn’t be checking his phone much — and probably wouldn’t listen to her in the first place.”
  • “Tina, (text) Philip and tell him to just par in,” she texted. “Don’t hit bombs or activate calves. Just par. They will have to catch him.”
7. A major venue
Brendan Porath for Golf Digest…”The Pete Dye marvel in the low country dunes of South Carolina has given us two hall-of-fame legends hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy and arguably the greatest Ryder Cup of all time. Joining Rory McIlroy’s record-setting win (margin of victory) in 2012 now is Phil Mickelson’s record-setting win (that Julius Boros citation we’ve heard for decades) and an 18th-hole scene that will go down in championship lore. The recent knock on the PGA Championship is that it’s the one men’s major without an “identity,” a malleable term. The images and sound from Sunday at the Ocean Course will certainly strengthen its confidence.”
  • “It was a week that should lend the Ocean Course another shot and barring some future logistical disaster, repeated chances at some set interval. The PGA Championship’s move to a May date has opened up swaths of the country that previously seemed ill-suited for an August major. Kiawah has now hosted in both months with success, but this week proved that late spring is an absolute sweet spot. The temperatures, winds and lack of precipitation were precisely what you want and gave the PGA of America full autonomy of its setup. Some of that is good fortune, but bringing the championship here in May (as opposed to some more water-logged locales during that spring month) put the odds in your favor.”
8. Heck!
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…Rachel Heck paused for a somber moment after she heard the name Victoria Pinckney on the first tee. On Monday, every player in field at the NCAA Championship played in memory of a fallen U.S. soldier. Air Force captain Pinckney, a 27-year-old mom, died in Kyrgyzstan while serving during Operation Enduring Freedom.
  • Heck walked over to the starter to write down Pinckney’s name on her scorecard before she left the tee box. The Stanford freshman held a 5-shot lead going into the final round, but at this moment, her mind was far away from what was on the line. Heck joined the ROTC program at Stanford and hopes to serve in the Air Force Reserve while competing on the LPGA.
9. WOTW: Phil Mickelson’s Rolex Cellini Danaos
Our Brian Knudson on what Phil Mickelson had on his wrist…”I don’t think I need to tell you that Rolex is the largest and most recognized brand in all of the watch world. They have been creating high-end precision timepieces since 1905. When you think of a Rolex you typically think of a sport dive watch like the iconic Submariner, but Rolex also makes a lesser-known dress watch for formal occasions.”
  • “The Rolex Cellini was born in the 1960s by then-director Rene-Paul Jeanneret to be stylish and fashionable. The watches were named after Benvenuto Cellini, an Italian goldsmith, and marketed as being fashion accessories. They carried a lot of retro styling cues from past Rolex watches of the ’20s and ’30s.”
  • “Phil owns a handful of Cellini Danaos models and it was the watch he wore during play for most of his previous major championships. Phil has been seen wearing one with a black dial, a black and white dial, and even a square Cellini called the Prince.”
  • “This Cellini looks to be reference 4233 and is made from solid 18ct white gold. The case is a much smaller 33mm, and I would suspect less in the way when swinging a golf club. The bezel on this watch is large, made from matching white gold, and integrated into the case very smoothly. It almost looks as if the case is just 2 pieces that come together in the middle of the watch.”
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Equipment

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

Published

12 hours ago

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May 9, 2024

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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

Published

1 day ago

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May 8, 2024

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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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Equipment

Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship

Published

2 days ago

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May 8, 2024

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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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