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Phil Mickelson’s potentially shocking driver change at the 2023 Open Championship

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Phil Mickelson’s bag setup at the 2023 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club might look a lot different than it did at the 2023 U.S. Open just last month.

After masterfully finishing T2 at The Masters to kick off Major Championship season in 2023, Mickelson followed up the performance with a lackluster T58 at the PGA Championship, and a missed cut at the U.S. Open.

Now, it looks like lefty is switching things up at the top end of his bag for the year’s final major.

Mickelson – who’s used a Callaway driver throughout most of his legendary career (he used a Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond in 2023) – was spotted on Wednesday at Royal Liverpool using a Ping G430 LST 9-degree driver during a practice round at the 2023 Open Championship.

While the potential switch is certainly shocking, Mickelson actually switched into a Ping G430 Max 15-degree fairway wood prior to LIV London in July. According to a Ping rep, Mickelson requested a number of driver options to be built up for Open Championship week.

It appears that Mickelson found his match with a Ping G430 LST 9-degree head, equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Blue 6X shaft. At least, he liked that one enough to bring it out onto the course for his Wednesday practice round.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that’s the driver he’ll tee it up with on Thursday, but he’s serious enough about making the driver change to test it out on the eve of Thursday’s opening round.

We’ll keep an eye on Mickelson’s driver and fairway wood choices as Open Championship week at Royal Liverpool continues.

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He played on the Hawaii Pacific University Men's Golf team and earned a Masters degree in Communications. He also played college golf at Rutgers University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Mikey

    Jul 19, 2023 at 5:40 pm

    He should play all Ping. Call him the G Man.

  2. Bob

    Jul 19, 2023 at 5:06 pm

    Doing espionage for Callaway on links conditions performance? Just a thought.

    • DG

      Jul 20, 2023 at 6:43 am

      Right. Is that why he switched his 3 wood to ping earlier in the month? Another idiot heard from.

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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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Whats in the Bag

Akshay Bhatia WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Max LS (9 degrees @7.2, 2 grams lead tape heel, 4 grams toe)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X (44 7/8 inches, tipped 1 inch)

Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max D (9 degrees @7)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (15 degrees @13.9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X (43 inches, tipped 1.5)

Hybrid: Callaway Apex UW Prototype (19 degrees @17.8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 10 X

Irons: Callaway X Forged UT (21 degrees) Buy here, Callaway Apex TCB Raw (5-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 125 S+

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (50-10S @49, 54-10S, 60-08C @61)
Shafts: KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 135 X

Putter: Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Split

Grips: Iomic

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour

More photos of Akshay Bhatia’s WITB in the forums.

 

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Whats in the Bag

Emiliano Grillo WITB 2024 (May)

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Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (9 degrees @10)
Shaft: Project X Denali Blue 60 TX

3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (15 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 70 TX

5-wood: Cobra LTDx Prototype (18.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Blue RDX 70 TX

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB (4-9)
Shafts: Project X 6.5

Wedges: Callaway MD3 Milled (46-08S), Callaway Jaws Raw (50-10S, 54-10S, 60-08T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy Flatso 1.0

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Check out more in-hand photos of Emiliano Grillo’s clubs here.

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