News

GolfWRX Morning 9: Johnny’s biggest regret | Farewell, British Masters? | Langer haters

Published

8 years ago

Oct 17, 2018

Ben Alberstadt

1. Farewell, British Masters?

Without a sponsor to succeed SkySports, the British Masters is reportedly not included on the 2019 European Tour calendar. Unreal.

The most recent edition’s host, Justin Rose, speaking to the Mail, had some harsh words.

“Dare I say it, there are so many events on the European Tour that shouldn’t be there, and these events with history are the ones that should be there,” said Rose.

“I wonder if we should be focusing on condensing things slightly, and stressing quality over quantity.

“It’s such a shame when we lose events like this one, and we’ve seen it far too often with the loss of other traditional events like the European Open.

“These are the ones where the fans really come out in force in the UK and support them and they create the type of atmosphere which makes it such a pleasure for the players to compete.

2. Miller talks like most fans think

An unbylined AP column (Doug Ferguson?) gets at the essence of Johnny Miller, analyst.

“The comment was vintage Johnny Miller, raw enough to cause most television producers to wince…Miller was in the NBC Sports booth at Doral in 2004 when he watched Craig Parry hit another beautiful shot to the green. Miller said what he saw. That was his job…He just didn’t say it like other golf analysts.”

“The last time you see that swing is in a pro-am with a guy who’s about a 15-handicap,” Miller said. “It’s just over the top, cups it at the bottom and hits it unbelievably good. It doesn’t look … if Ben Hogan saw that, he’d puke.”

“I was in Ponte Vedra going back to the Honda Classic, and my phone is blowing up,” said Tommy Roy, the longtime golf producer at NBC. “It started percolating down in Australia, and you had radio stations demanding Johnny Miller be fired.”

“He doesn’t have a filter. That’s why he’s so good,” Roy said. “What he’s thinking comes out. And 99.5 percent of the time, that was a great thing for viewers, and for me. And 0.5 percent of the time, it was a problem for our PR department and for me.”

3. Johnny’s biggest regret

Golf Channel’s Jason Crook on Johnny’s lament.

“I think that I didn’t say the right words about Justin Leonard at Miracle at Brookline about he should be home watching it on TV. I meant really – I did say he should be home, but I meant the motel room. Even then I probably shouldn’t have said that,” Miller recalled. “I want so much for the outcome that I’m hoping for that I actually get overwhelmed with what I want to see. Almost the kind of things you would say to your buddies if you were watching it on TV, you know? He just couldn’t win a match.”

“After struggling on Friday and Saturday in team play, Leonard ended up the U.S. hero after halving his Sunday singles match with José María Olazábal by holing a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole – one of the most famous shots in Ryder Cup history.”

“Of course he ended up – after the crappy comment I made that motivated maybe the team supposedly in the locker room, and he ends up making that 45-, 50- foot putt to seal the deal,” Miller said. “Almost like a Hollywood movie or something.”

4. Harig on Miller

ESPN’s Bob Harig on the singularity of Johnny Miller…”You probably heard that Johnny Miller once shot a 63 in the final round of a major championship, firing at those treacherous Oakmont flags on his way to winning the 1973 U.S. Open, becoming the first player to score so low in one of the game’s biggest tournaments.”

“And you may very well have heard it from Miller himself….Repeatedly. Like, numerous times over a nearly 30-year broadcasting career that is set to come to an end early in 2019.”

“It was both an infuriating and enduring quality Miller possessed, causing many to dislike his work as an analyst, but so a part of what made Johnny Miller, well, Johnny Miller.”

5. Tiger talks

Appearing at a clinic…TW answered a few questions from the assembled faithful.

“It’s still sinking in, because 80 is a big number,” Woods said. “I’ve won 80 times out there. That’s pretty cool. It hasn’t been easy. What validates it for me is the fact that I got a chance to go against Rory (McIlroy) head to head in the final group, and also (Justin Rose), who was tied with Rory, a group ahead. He’d just become the No. 1 player in the world. In order to get my first win in five years I had to beat those two guys. That makes it feel even more special.”

On Ryder Cup fatigue…”It was just a cumulative effect of the entire season,” Woods said. “I was tired because I hadn’t trained for it. I hadn’t trained this entire comeback to play this much golf and on top of that deal with the heat and the fatigue and the loss of weight.”

Woods also mentioned he’d like to be a playing captain for the Presidents Cup next year.

6. Langer haters

Nick Rodger at the Herald (Scotland) pointed out an uncomfortable reality: for as stellar as Bernhard Langer’s play has been, his wins have something resembling an asterix for some.

“Despite the sodden lumps of acclaim that regularly get shovelled over him, however, there remain plenty of cynics who are outspokenly sceptical of Langer’s putting technique. The can of worms that was opened up in the wake of the ban on the anchored method of putting, a style Langer adopted to overcome the heebie-jeebies and has since had to adapt, has led to locker room mutterings, accusations and aspersions being cast that he is still anchoring.

“You can understand the point of view. Watching him execute a stroke on the green, with the handle of his putter right next to his chest, just about requires you to take a CT scan to ascertain whether it is actually anchored or not. But that is the ambiguity of the rule and one that seems to have produced more grey areas than that 50 Shades of whatdoyoucallit.”

“The shame for golf is that many of Langer’s detractors have opted to relinquish the game’s fundamental trust in the player. My word is my honour? There are plenty who still need convincing…”

7. The dame!

AP Report…”Laura Davies recovered from a pair of early bogeys Tuesday for a 2-under 70 that gave her a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Senior LPGA Championship as she goes for a second senior major.”

Here’s hoping she gets done!

8. Cobra’s new irons…just like Rickie’s

WRX Staff…”For years, Rickie Fowler has used custom Cobra King Forged MB irons that have tungsten plugs in both the toe and center of their soles to fine tune CG (center of gravity) for additional feel, forgiveness and trajectory control. Now, with it’s new mixed set of muscleback short irons (7-PW) and cavity back long irons (2-6), general consumers can take advantage of the custom design, as well.”

“The new irons undergo a 5-step forging process, according to Cobra, and have slightly different designs than the original King Forged MB and CB irons previously released to the public. While the short irons have a compact design for workability and shot-shaping that better players prefer, the CBs have a new “muscle cavity” designed for a more “workable trajectory” and softer feel, while still delivering forgiveness on off-center strikes, according to the company.”

Full article.

9. Bowditch headed for Tiger surgery

The fan favorite tweeted the below. Gotta hope for a similar outcome!

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