News
WOTW: Joohyung Kim’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph “Panda”
The Wyndham Championship gave a young pro, Joohyung Kim, his first PGA Tour win! Kim shot a 61 in the final round to win by five strokes at Sedgefield Country Club in North Carolina. Kim was presented with the silver trophy that he held high while wearing a discontinued Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph “Panda.”
WOTW Specs
Name: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding Chronograph
Reference: 26331ST.OO.1220ST.03
Limited: No
Date: 2017 – 2022
Case: Stainless Steel
Bezel: Stainless Steel
Dial: Silver Toned Grande Tapisserie
Size: 41mm
Movement: Calibre 2385, 37 Jewels
Power Reserve: 40 Hours
Glass: Saphire Crystal
Waterproof: 50 Meters
Bracelet: Stainless Steel Royal Oak
Price: $24,500 (~$60,000)
Audemars Piguet, sometimes referred to as just AP, was founded in 1875 by Jules Audemars and Edward Piguet. As one of the largest and most respected names in luxury watchmaking, they are still family owned to this day. Paul-Edward Piguet is the great-grandson of Edward and on the board of directors, ensuring the 147-year-old company holds true.
Audemars Piguet was in rough financial shape back back in 1970 with quartz movement watches taking over the industry. Quartz movements are more accurate and far cheaper than mechanical ones, offering precision timepieces to the masses. In 1972, Audemars Piguet looked to one of the most famous watch designers, Gerald Genta, to create a piece that would save the company. Genta did not disappoint, creating one of the most iconic watches ever in the Royal Oak. Introduced in 1972, the Royal Oak was larger and more expensive than any other stainless steel sports watch in history.
The Royal Oak Chronograph that Kim is wearing was introduced in 1972 and looks like it was discontinued earlier this year. The case is made from stainless steel and measures in at 41mm across. On the right side of the case is the crown and 2 pushers to run the chronograph sub dials. The caseback is solid stainless steel, with an etched Royal Oak logo, and held down with 8 screws. On top of the case is the iconic 8-sided Royal Oak bezel, crafted in matching stainless steel. The top of the bezel has a brushed finish and contains 8 hex screws that hold it in place.
The dial is again a legendary AP design, the Grande Tapisserie texture. Grande Tapisserie is raised squares with some texture that looks like very fine milling marks on it. That dial is done in a Silver Tone that looks more white in the light. White gold hour markers and hands add some more luxury to the watch and should keep its color for years to come. Three black sub dials are arranged at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock for timing minutes and hours along with the pushers on the side.
Inside the Panda is a self-winding automatic movement designed and built in house by Audemars Piguet. The Calibre 2358 is based off of a Frédéric Piguet caliber 1185 that was originally designed in 1988. The 2358 features 40 hours of power reserve and contains 37 jewels. The 2358 has been used in quite a few timepieces and could be considered a workhorse for Audemars Piguet.
The bracelet was designed to flow perfectly with the case when Genta first designed it. The Royal Oak bracelet is crafted from stainless steel and the full width lugs are held together with 2 smaller links. The outside of bracelet is finished in a brushed look while the beveled edges are polished to a mirror-like look. The clasp features a twin trigger release with and thick steel swing arms for durability. An AP logo on the claps is the only way you can really tell it is there, almost invisible.
The Panda looks like it was discontinued this year and prices have been slowly increasing since then. If you would like one of these very popular watches, expect to pay around $60,000 in the current market.
- LIKE12
- LEGIT4
- WOW3
- LOL3
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB1
- SHANK1
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.
- LIKE4
- LEGIT1
- WOW0
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK2
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
- LIKE30
- LEGIT2
- WOW2
- LOL1
- IDHT1
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK0
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.
- LIKE45
- LEGIT11
- WOW4
- LOL4
- IDHT2
- FLOP2
- OB0
- SHANK7
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
LET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole5 days ago
Report: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Gary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Equipment5 days ago
Details on Justin Thomas’ driver switch at the Wells Fargo Championship
-
Whats in the Bag2 weeks ago
Team McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
Whats in the Bag5 days ago
Keegan Bradley WITB 2024 (May)