Equipment
Cracked driver forces Dustin Johnson to use two 3-woods at Liberty National
Dustin Johnson shot a round of 1-under par at Liberty National on Thursday, and under the circumstances, it was one of his best under-par rounds of the year.
The 37-year-old encountered adversity in New Jersey when he noticed a crack in the crown of his driver right before his round. With no replacement, DJ had a 3-wood retrieved from his car, which made its way into his bag on the second hole.
Explaining his setup from then on, DJ told the media
“I’ve got a 5-wood that I use for my 3-wood. It goes the distance I want it to. But I had a strong 3-wood (14.5 degrees) in my car, so it helped a little bit … the first time I hit it was on 8. Just, I hadn’t hit it. It was brand new. So I hit it down the middle on 8, hit a good one, hit a good shot on 9. I hit it nicely, though, with it.”
Johnson gained half a stroke off the tee despite not having his trusty driver in his bag, and he believes that even if the 3-wood wasn’t retrieved from his car, he’d have been just fine: “I would have figured out a way. I figured out a way to shoot a decent score.”
As for Friday’s round, expect to see DJ with a driver as Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade’s Tour rep, has come to the American’s aid: “I’ve got a couple heads that I’m going to go try to hit. Keith got me a couple heads.”
The extra 3-wood wasn’t the only big change in Johnson’s bag on Thursday either, who decided to sub in his old TaylorMade Spider, having been playing a blade-style gamer in recent weeks.
“I switched back to the Spider right before the round. I’ve been using my blade for a while. I was hitting some putts on the putting green this morning, and it didn’t feel too good, so I went and grabbed my Spider.”
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Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees) Buy here.
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 9 X
Irons: TaylorMade Proto (4), TaylorMade Rors Proto (5-9) Buy here.
Shaft: Project X 7.0 (4-9)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG4 (46-09SB, 50-09SB, 54-11SB) Buy here, Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58-K @59) Buy here.
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (46-54), Project X 6.5 Wedge (60)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X3 Buy here.
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Pistol Tour
Ball: 2024 TaylorMade TP5x Buy here.
(Photo courtesy of TaylorMade)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Rory McIlroy’s WITB in the forums.
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The winning WITB is presented by 2nd Swing Golf. 2nd Swing has more than 100,000 new and pre-swung golf clubs available in six store locations and online. Check them out here.
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- Kevin Tway what’s in the bag accurate as of the Wells Fargo Championship. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX
5-wood: TaylorMade Stealth 2 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 90 TX
Irons: Wilson Staff Utility (2), Titleist T100 (4-9)
Shafts: Mitsubishi MMT 100 TX (2), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (48-10F @47, 52-12F @51, 56-14F), SM7 (60-10S)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48-56), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (60)
Putter: Scotty Cameron T-5 Proto
Grip: Scotty Cameron Black Baby T
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4
More photos of Kevin Tway’s WITB in the forums.
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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 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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Hulk Hogan
Aug 20, 2021 at 6:10 pm
Must’ve got one of those bootleg Chinese drivers. Hard to tell when they both come out of the same dump, brother.
Pi
Aug 20, 2021 at 5:07 pm
I am surprised he didn’t bring a spare driver or driver head. If there is one club they break, it’s that one
Brandon
Aug 20, 2021 at 12:12 pm
Is it illegal to carry a backup head in your bag? If it is, that rule serves absolutely no purpose and should be done away with.
Benny
Aug 21, 2021 at 9:08 am
Its not and if you have extra clubs you can flip them over or just toss them in your car/locker. I doubt he was driving his own car. Most times the extras they bring are left in the free Mercedes rentals.