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Morning 9: No 20 for Rory | No moral victory, but progress for Rickie | Lee Janzen!

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By Ben Alberstadt
For comments—or if you’re looking for a fourth—email me at [email protected].
October 18, 2021
Good Monday morning, golf fans.
1. No 20 for Rory
AP report…”Rory McIlroy capped off a big weekend in Las Vegas on Sunday by surging past Rickie Fowler and holding off Collin Morikawa to win THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT for his 20th PGA TOUR title.”
  • “McIlroy seized control with a 35-foot eagle putt from just off the green on the par-5 14th and then playing mistake-free down the stretch for a 6-under 66 and a one-victory.”
  • “McIlroy is the 39th player to win at least 20 times on the PGA TOUR, and it’s his fifth straight PGA TOUR season with at least one win.”
  • “Fowler, who started the final round with a two-shot lead as he tried to end nearly three years without a victory, faded with a pair of three-putts and shot 71 to tie for third. The threat came from Morikawa, a member at The Summit Club, who shot 29 on the front to get in the mix and closed with an eagle for a 62.”
2. No moral victory
Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”Kanye West once sang that “moral victories are for minor league coaches.” Well, that may be true, but Rickie Fowler shouldn’t be hanging his head despite squandering a two-stroke 54-hole lead at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas.”
  • “It felt good to finally hit the golf ball properly, at least most of the time, for 72 holes,” he said. “A lot of quality shots, a lot of good swings this week.”
  • “Fowler came home in 1-under 71 on Sunday at the Summit Club to finished tied for third with Keith Mitchell, three strokes behind Rory McIlroy, who notched his 20th PGA Tour title, and two behind Collin Morikawa, who shot a scorching 62.”
  • “For Fowler, who hasn’t won since the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February 2019, it was a big step in the right direction. Fowler turns 33 on December 13 and has been open about his struggles, which have seen him fall from No. 8 in the world to No. 128 entering this week…”
3. European Tour: Fitzpatrick wins
AP report…”Patience paid off for Matt Fitzpatrick at the tough Valderrama course in Spain on Sunday.”
  • “The Englishman made 15 straight pars then rallied with two birdies on his last three holes to win the Andalucía Masters by three shots.”
  • “Amazing,” Fitzpatrick said. “Particularly the way I did it. I was very patient all day, didn’t try to press anything, stuck to our targets and managed to make all the putts in the end. I’m delighted with the win.”
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4. Aramco Team Series
Keith Jackson, Sky Sports…”Jessica Korda led her team to a thrilling victory as Charley Hull clinched the individual title at the Aramco Team Series – New York.”
  • “Korda’s par on the second playoff hole at the floodlit 17th was enough to deny former Women’s Open champion Sophia Popov and claim the team prize along with Ladies European Tour stars Karolin Lampert and Lina Boqvist, along with Golf Channel journalist Alexandra O’Laughlin.”
  • “The quartet combined for a closing round of 12 under which was matched by Team Popov, finishing the 54-hole event on 41 under and just one stroke ahead of Team Hull, who were 20 under par for their final round.”
5. KFT Q School 
Nick Parker for PGATour.com…”The first of five sites for the second stage of Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament kicked off this week at Southern Hills Plantation in Brooksville, Florida with 22 of 73 players earning 2022 Korn Ferry Tour membership by advancing to the final stage.”
  • “25-year-old Alex Weiss of Pickerington, Ohio secured the biggest win of his career Friday, winning the second stage at the Southern Hills site by three shots at 20-under 268. The Marshall University grad is yet to make a Korn Ferry Tour start but is off to final stage after blitzing the field with rounds of 69-67-66-66. Weiss has 19 career starts on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica with four top-10s including a runner-up in 2019.”
  • “Five-time PGA TOUR winner Jonathan Byrd finished just behind Weiss in solo second at 17-under-par 271 and is off to final stage. Byrd, owner of 434 career PGA TOUR starts, made 15 starts on TOUR in 2021 but narrowly missed a shot at a TOUR card at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals after finishing No. 206 in the FedExCup standings.”
  • “Michael Johnson, 28, finished solo third at 16-under and is off to final stage. Shortly after turning pro in 2016 after graduating from Auburn University, Johnson finished one shot out of a playoff in solo third at the 2016 Barbasol Championship. He lost Korn Ferry Tour membership in 2020 but is heading back to the Korn Ferry Tour after finishing solo third.”
6. Casey Martin has right leg amputated
Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…“Oregon men’s golf coach Casey Martin is recovering at a Rochester, Minnesota, hospital after undergoing an amputation of his right leg.”
  • “Martin had the surgery, a three-and-a-half-hour procedure that amputated the leg just above the knee, on Friday afternoon at Mayo Clinic, according to Golf Digest. Martin’s older brother, Cameron Martin, told Digest that the operation was successful and that doctors feel they were able to save enough of Martin’s upper leg to give him a “good shot” at fitting into a prosthetic once his leg heals.”
  • “The 49-year-old Martin has had issues with the leg since birth, specifically dealing with a type of circulatory disorder called Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome, which makes walking difficult.”
7. Rahm: “I don’t want to see a golf club”
Geoff Shackelford…”World No. 1 Jon Rahm spoke of plans to shut it down after the best and also most dramatic stretch of his career when he captured the U.S. Open, contended regularly in majors, lost a probable title after testing positive for COVID-19 at the Memorial, and became a father.”
  • “His comments after a 78 and missed cut in Madrid, as reported by AP…”This is the first time in my life that I don’t want to see a golf club,” Rahm said. “And this comes from someone who loves this sport, and after a year in which some pretty good things have happened to me.”
  • “Rahm said he needs to take a break and may not play for one month until the World Tour Championship in Dubai.”
8. Were you expecting a Lee Janzen win this week? 
AP report…”Lee Janzen made a 20-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff with Miguel Angel Jimenez on Sunday to win the PGA Tour Champions’ SAS Championship.”
  • “The 57-year-old Janzen also birdied the par-4 18th in regulation in a closing 5-under 67 in the regular-season finale. The two-time U.S. Open champion won the 2015 ACE Group Classic for his only other senior title.”
9. Winning WITB: Rory McIlroy
Driver: TaylorMade SIM2 (9 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Hybrid: TaylorMade SIM Max (19 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Black Prototype 105 6.5
Irons: TaylorMade Rors Proto (3-9)
Shafts: Project X Rifle 7.0
Wedges: TaylorMade MG3 (46-09SB @48), MG2 TW (56-12), MG2 (58-08LB @60)
Shaft: Project X Rifle 6.5
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Hydro Blast
Grip: SuperSroke Pistol GT Tour
Ball: 2021 TaylorMade TP5x (#22)
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
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Equipment

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

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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

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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

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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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