News

Five Things We Learned: Thursday at the Open Championship

Published

11 months ago

Jul 17, 2025

It’s funny how anticipation and arrival juxtapose. In 2019, our anticipation level for Royal Portrush had no meter to contain it. The last Northern Ireland Open championship took place in the 1950s. No matter what happened, no matter who won, the Dunluce course would win the week and the year. Our despair at Rory’s early exit was more than sated when Shane Lowry lifted the claret jug.

Move ahead to 2025, and things have changed. Lowry is still a competitive contender, and the golf course has done little in six years, to change its personality for the worse. And yet, we are a bit more critical. We recognize that it has more dogleg holes than most links courses. We confess that it has two holes added from its original design. We have no historical legacy othen than Lowry, as Max Faulkner’s 1951 win is deep in another century. The bloom is shed and the veil, lifted.

Portrush needs the book of winners that Troon, Birkdale, Hoylake, Carnoustie, and St. Andrews all possess. Portrush craves the connection with the town that other venues boast. Portrush needs an identity, one that will be enjoyed by our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as it adds name after name of Champion Golfer of the Year to its legacy. For our generations, we are here at the nascent point of the chronological arc.

With that sobriety written, let’s have a lesson from five notable things that we learned on day one, Thursday, of the 2025 Open Championship.

1. Bunkers and Billy

Billy Horschel has been sidelined with hip issues, and will undergo surgery next week. As the operation gets closer, Horschel becomes more vocal in his opinions on the state of the game. Last week, he took issue with a notion from Padraig Harrington, that the Open Championship might one day be played outside the British isles. This week, he demonstrated displeasure with the absence of trained bunker rakers at Royal Portrush. Without the standard bearers, caddies are compelled to rake bunkers as they do each week of the season.

We’ve not yet heard from Horschel on the size of the teeth of this week’s rakes. According to reliable sources, the teeth dig deeper and space wider, meaning that spin rates out of bunkers are diminished. As if the golfers needed more to adjust to than the vagaries of links golf. Will the rakes and absence of rakers have an impact on the outcome of the Open Championship? Pop the corn and stay tuned.

2. If you don’t have the shots, your long day leads to a short week

The Open championship routinely demands a wider skillset than the other major events. Find yourself high on a dune, and you’ll confront a shoulder-high knuckle ball, with little margin for error. At times, you are unable to merely pitch the ball sideways toward the fairway. Instead, you must hold the clubface open, rotate the shoulders, and hope for the best. On a good day, you make solid contact and the ball shoots toward the distant flag. On a bad day, well, see Bryson below. He finished on seven-over for the day, currently sits tied for 145th, and has work left to make Friday’s cut.

3. Monk

I confess that I thought that a Hayden “Sidd” Finch imitator was afoot, while reading that Sadom Kaewkanjana had taken time away from professional golf, to live life as a monk. This is precisely the case, as the top-fifteen finisher at the 2022 Open at St. Andrews took time away from the game in 2023. He lived as a Buddhist monk and practiced meditation and other ritual tasks. On Thursday, SK rode two birdies, plus a hole-out approach for eagle on five, to the second-best score on the day. His 68 stands him even with world number one Scottie Scheffler and two others, one shot behind the leading quintet. There may be better ways to prepare for the mental demands of championship golf; for the moment, I cannot think of any.

4. The leaders

In alphabetical order, you have Bezuidenhout, English, Fitzpatrick, Li, and Olesen. Of the five, Matt Fitzpatrick is the lone major winner. The other four were, at one point or another in their careers, predicted to be solid bets to win this sort of tournament. Each arrived at the head of the class in his own unique manner. Harris English carved seven birdies out of the course, but he also made the highest number of bogeys among the leaders. Haotong Li had four birdies and zero bogeys. The other three golfers all had at least one bogey.

The ability to minimize mistakes is critical to success at Royal Portrush. Make your way around the Dunluce with one bogey each day, and you’ll be in the thick of the chase come Sunday. English looks to have the best chance at round replication, as he teed off in Thursday’s afternoon wave. He’ll see a fresh set of greens on Friday. Despite his English roots, Fitzpatrick does not show well at The Open. His top finish is a tie for 20th, out of ten attempts.

5. Who looks to do what on Friday?

Scottie Scheffler has two, top-ten finishes in four Open Championship appearances. He did not play at Portrush in 2019, but his opening 68 suggests that he has an idea of what he wants to do, and how to do it. The Texan needs two consecutive rounds of solid, rewarded golf to set the stage for a run at the title. A fall-off on Friday will put him in a defensive mode on moving day. If he sits inside the top four after the cut, he won’t need to do anything spectacular on Saturday. Let’s see what the Schef ha on the menu.

If there’s one thing that Englishmen don’t do, it’s win the Open Championship. Look at the long list of recent, great English players with zero Open titles: Fleetwood, Rose, Westwood, Donald, Poulter, Willett, and Fitzpatrick. For some reason, they cannot find the elixir to clinch victory. Tyrrell Hatton hopes to remove his name from that list. Hatton opened with a clean card, posting four birdies against zero bogeys. Unlike Scheffler, Hatton fights to preserve control over his psyche and game with each breath he takes. He’ll be fun to watch, regardless of the outcome, but contention for the Claret will demand more from him than we’ve ever seen.

As things stand, these are the two I see with the best chance to impact the outcome of the 153rd Open Championship.

News

Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider

Published

2 days ago

May 29, 2026

Alistair Cameron

There must be something in the water. Or potentially on the greens. A whole host of big-time players decided that the Charles Schwab Challenge was the perfect place to test out new putters.

With the 2026 U.S. Open just around the corner, defending champion J.J. Spaun made a surprising switch away from his center-shafted Df3 and into L.A.B. Golf’s OZ.1i HS – the heel-shafted mallet putter.

“Just something I kind of wanted to change the way the putter was looking, just a completely different look than the DF3 that I’ve been using for the last year and a half,” Spaun told GolfWRX about the swap. “So it’s just easier to line up for me with less onset looking design, and it’s just something I felt like switching it up and seeing how it goes.”

You can find more about the putter and the reasoning behind Spaun’s change here.

Robert MacIntyre also decided to change the flatstick at Colonial Country Club. He’s using a custom Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R. The Scotty team created a specially-milled face featuring horizontal grooves and shortened the plumber’s neck to increase toe hang.

Another custom feature of the build is the welded wings added to the rear of the putter, similar to those found on the Phantom 11 head.

It’s potentially part of a major overhaul to his bag. The Scot has recently switched from the Titleist Pro V1 to the Pro V1x golf ball, added the new GTS2 driver, and is currently testing a GTS 3-wood that could replace his ancient TaylorMade AeroBurner 3-wood.

Ludvig Åberg joined the trio of superstars making alterations on the greens. He’s added a Scotty Cameron Phantom 3.2.

It’s not Åberg’s first putter switch of the season. He had been using different versions of his usual Odyssey Versa #1 head to try to get better speed control on the greens.

? Ludvig Åberg is using a new putter! He’s playing a @ScottyCameron Phantom 3 head. First major putter switch, although he has been changing loft and heads in the Odyssey #1 style this season.
Here’s a Phantom 3 built for him earlier in the season https://t.co/oGrNk6p0hz pic.twitter.com/edRbpk22m4

— Alistair Cameron (@ACameronWRX) May 28, 2026

Currently, a Tour-only offering, the Phantom 3 head is a half-moon mallet shape. Like the previous version that GolfWRX captured at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which Åberg never put in play, the current version appears to feature the Studio Carbon Steel face insert and chain-link face milling. Instead of the all-black version one, Åberg’s current flatstick is in the metal finish.

Rico Hoey’s make-shift Jailbird

Some of the best builds on Tour have a certain Frankenstein theme to them.

Odyssey decided to do this when breeding a turtle and a bird together. The result, Rico Hoey’s latest broomstick.

The custom Jailbird S2S Tri-Hot head includes an aluminium-milled insert from the unreleased TRTL head, which the team machined down to fit the face of the Jailbird after removing the usual Ai-Dual insert.

The team also filled the wings of the putter with epoxy to redistribute mass away from the face, with the metal insert weighing more than the original.

Hoey was also spotted with a custom Damascus Milled Jailbird Mini broomstick. Check out the full gallery here.

Brant Snedeker’s full WITB

Arguably, the PGA Tour’s feel-good story of the year so far was 45-year-old Brandt Snedeker returning to the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly 8 years.

His victory didn’t come without some equipment updates, either. The Presidents Cup Captain added the 2016 M2 driver equipped with a Fujikura Speeder Evolution 661. It’s a shaft that’s even older than the driver.

The historic driver setup might have been added because Snedeker was missing some antique vibes. He recently switched out his 2-decade-old Odyssey Rossie White Hot XG for a TaylorMade Spider Tour X.

He first put the Spider in play at the Cognizant Classic. Still, at the Valspar Championship, he tested TaylorMade’s True Path Alignment versus without, and preferred the added aim benefits he was getting. In previous testing, the biggest thing Snedeker noticed was the launch and how quickly the ball got to true roll from the Spider and its Pure Roll insert compared to anything else he had tried.

Check out Snedeker’s full what’s in the bag during this week’s episode of “Inside the Ropes” from Colonial.

Everything’s bigger in Texas

TaylorMade Golf chose the second stop of a Texas two-step in Dallas as the spot to launch the tour’s latest Spider putter.

On-site Monday at Colonial Country Club, GolfWRX’s Tour Photographer Greg Moore captured the new Spider ZT Max putter ahead of the Charles Schwab Challenge.

The Max version of TaylorMade’s zero-torque putter style has a larger footprint than the original ZT, which will likely lead to a higher MOI thanks to wider perimeter weighting.

The original ZT is made of high-density 303 stainless steel at the front, and then a lower-density 6061 aerospace aluminum on the back to create a high-MOI foundation, with a center shaft featuring slight forward shaft lean and 25mm onset behind the leading edge.

The Spider ZT Max also appears to use the ZT cambered sole, which is also seen on the recently Tour-launched Spider Tour, Tour X, F and V models, which were first spotted at the RBC Heritage.

Brian Harman gamed the original Spider ZT for his victory last year at the 2025 Valero Texas Open, and the putter also saw victory on the DP World Tour in the hands of Michael Kim for his FedEx Open de France win.

Check out the full gallery here.

Odds and Ends

Project X officially Tour launched the Titan Yellow shaft, just a few days after Wyndham Clark played it for the first time and won The CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The shaft features a smoother feel in the handle compared to past Project X wood shafts, along with a firm midsection and firm tip. The Synex Technology allows a player to feel more load in transition without losing the feel of the clubhead. Titleist launched the GTS300 back at Quail Hollow, and just a few weeks later, it’s in the bag of Justin Thomas. Could this be a test run for Shinnecock?

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the ShopRite LPGA

Published

3 days ago

May 28, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX Tour Photographer Greg Moore was on site in Galloway, New Jersey, ahead of the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern to snap some WITB photos and more.

Check out links to all the photos below!

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

Odyssey putters – 2026 ShopRite(LPGA)

News

Club Junkie WITB, week 18: Driver still needs a grip!

Published

3 days ago

May 27, 2026

Brian Knudson

Back again for week 18 with another new bag for this week’s league night! Last week I played well but lost so hoping to get back on the winning side of things. I am pretty excited to get this driver out on the course as I think it is a legit sleeper in the category. It is also time to break out some newly built irons from JP Golf that look awesome and hopefully play just as good! Here is what is in the bag this week.

Driver: PXG Lighting Tour-Mid (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Red 6s

4-wood: Wilson Dynapwr Carbon (16.5 degrees @ 16)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s

Hybrid: Callaway Apex Ti Super Hybrid (21 degrees @ 20)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus HB Red 9x

Utility: Mizuno JPX One (22 degrees @ 23)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Black 85s

Irons: JP Prime (5-PW)
Shafts: UST Mamiya Dart V 105 F5

Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (50-10 MID)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s

Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (56-10 MID)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s

Wedge: Cleveland RTZ (50-8 ADAPT)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 s

Putter: Mizuno M.Craft City Osaka
Shaft: TPT Pulse 50

Ball: PXG Xtreme Tour

Bag: Ghost Anyday Black Ops Stand Bag