News

Morning 9: Hatton tames Bay Hill, himself | Other winners | What’s wrong with Tiger? | Koepka struggles

Published

6 years ago

Mar 9, 2020

Ben Alberstadt

1. Hatton tames Bay Hill, himself

Early in the back nine Sunday, Tyrrell Hatton did not exactly look like a man with the composure to win a golf tournament amid trying conditions. The highly combustible Englishman kept his head, however, and earned himself a Palmer cardigan for his ability to steady the ship.

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”there were some testy moments for Hatton in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, including slamming his club, flipping the bird, and pointing his putter like a rifle and firing a pretend shot back in the general direction of a pond on the 11th hole where his ball found a watery grave.”

“He wasn’t the only one whose patience was tested as Bay Hill Club & Lodge turned into a windy U.S. Open-like struggle. Only four golfers managed to break par for 72 holes.”

“Yet leave it to Hatton to keep his cool down the stretch as others faltered to hang on to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational by one stroke over Australian Marc Leishman. Juicy rough, greens as hard as cement and howling wind brought the field to its knees with Hatton the ultimate survivor, and winning his maiden PGA Tour title – and a three-year exemption – despite a 2-over 74 and a 72-hole total of 4-under 284.”

Full piece.

2. ICYMI: A sampling of his theatrics

Golfweek’s Julie Williams…”At the 11th hole on Sunday, Hatton felt the heat. The 28-year-old Englishman started the day with a two-shot lead and appeared to be in good shape after turning in even par. At the par-4 11th, however, Hatton hit his drive into water on the left side of the hole.”

“After taking a drop, Hatton hit it over the green on his approach and ended up walking away with a double-bogey. He left no doubts about his level of frustration in a colorful display of gestures not often seen on the PGA Tour.”

“Using his putter as a rifle, Hatton turned and fired a pretend shot back toward the pond that swallowed his drive. After that, he extended a middle finger behind him in the pond’s direction, too. There was one final, similarly obscene gesture as he walked off the green and toward the 12th tee.”

Better on video! See it here.

3. Meanwhile, in Qatar…

Reuters report…”Spaniard Jorge Campillo showcased a putting masterclass to beat Scotland’s David Drysdale in a two-way playoff on the fifth extra hole to win the Qatar Masters on Sunday.”

“Campillo looked on course for a two-stroke victory on the final day of the tournament but a wayward tee shot on the par-4 17th gave him a double bogey that meant he finished tied on 13-under overall.”

Full piece.

4. Big Easy!

Golf Digest’s John Strege…”Ernie Els is a World Golf Hall of Famer who was eager to rejoin his contemporaries on the PGA Tour Champions, though they might have preferred he continued competing against the younger generation.”

“In only his third start on the senior tour, Els won the Hoag Classic at Newport Beach (Calif.) Country Club on Sunday. In his senior debut in January, he tied for second in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, losing in a playoff.”

Full piece.

5. Harig: What’s wrong with Tiger Woods?

ESPN’s Bob Harig on TW skipping The Players...”Perhaps some long-forgotten history is in play, and Woods has learned the lesson of past transgressions. TPC Sawgrass is no place to show up if you’re not ready to play, and given the fact that his back is giving him issues, it is difficult to envision Woods having practiced to the level necessary to be competitive.”

“Way back in 2011, Woods suffered knee and Achilles injuries during the final round of the Masters. The injury kept him out until the Players, which was then played in May. He showed up, looked terrible, shot 42 for nine holes and withdrew. And he wasn’t seen again until August, with a lackluster result at the Bridgestone Invitational followed by a missed cut at the PGA Championship.”

“The point is there is no sense in rushing to play a tournament if you are not prepared to play it…But the fact that he isn’t ready to play says everything and why Steinberg’s words of reassurance are anything but.”

Full piece.

6. Still sh***

Golf Channel’s Nick Menta…”Asked to compare his Sunday 71 to his Saturday 81, here’s how he summed it up: “Still sh–. Still sh–. Putting better.”

“In blustery conditions at Bay Hill on Saturday, Brooks Koepka carded his career-worst round of 81. “I’m a big boy. I can handle it,” he said.”

“When it was then suggested that he “probably can’t say that on the podium,” Koepka offered an elegant solution.”

“Well, fine me,” he said with a laugh, before continuing on about his putting. “I found something with my putting, so my putting, the touch is back. I feel very confident with that. But still close on the swing, sometimes it’s there and then sometimes it’s not.”

Full piece.

7. Preparing for the Grand Slam bid…again

ESPN’s Bob Harig…”Career-slam talk commenced immediately, and McIlroy has been chasing that green jacket ever since, logging some top-10 finishes but truthfully not coming as close as he did nine years ago — when he was the 54-hole leader, triple-bogeyed the 10th hole and shot 80.”

“Inevitably, the questions surface, and McIlroy does his best to entertain them, basically going the route that there is a lot of golf to be played prior to the Masters.”

“For some people, it starts the Monday they arrive at Augusta,” McIlroy said when asked this week when the process for the year’s first major begins. “For some people, it started in January. I think it’s different for everyone. For me, what I realized is I can’t make things too big in my head. So if I started to gear up for Augusta in January, by the time Augusta got around in April, my head would be absolutely fried.”

“So I try to push it out as late as possible. I’ve got four tournaments to play between now and then, and my biggest concern and my top priority are those four tournaments.”

Full piece.

8. Yeah, I shanked it. So what?

That’s the essence of Twitter swing critic/PGA Tour pro Max Homa after shanking a pitch into a TV tower at the API.

Golf Channel’s Will Gray…”I had a horrendous lie. Didn’t even know if I pitched it left if I could keep it in a decent spot,” Homa told GolfChannel.com. “I figured if it came out bad, it would go in the bunker. Never really thought it was going to grab my club and make me shank it. Hadn’t done that in a while.”

“While the lie had Homa guessing, the placement of the TV tower proved fortuitous. Instead of “flying into the water,” according to Homa’s estimate, his ball instead bounced off the tower and into the hazard but stopped in front of some rocks. He was able to play it, ended up hitting the pin with his next shot and tapped in for a bogey-6 that could have been much worse.”

“I think (playing partner) Sam Burns said it best, he goes, ‘Tap that thing in and get the heck off this hole,'” Homa said. “I guess it was a bad lie, so that was a bad break, and then a great break off the sideboard. So we’ll call it even.”

Full piece.

9. Every shot live!

We’re looking at an exciting week in the history of golf media ahead! The PGA Tour has cracked the logistics code (and has the deep pockets) to give viewers the opportunity to see every shot of its flagship event alive.

Jim McCabe for PGATour.com…“And it’s likely to land you in a stratosphere never imagined – like being able to deliver to your fans every shot by every player in THE PLAYERS Championship. Yes, all of ’em. Somewhere north of 31,000 combined by 144 players over four days over THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.”

“Digest those numbers and the mere concept of Every Shot Live for a minute. Then you can appreciate the sense of anticipation that is swelling within Scott Gutterman, Senior Vice President of Digital Operations for the PGA TOUR.”

…”He could add that it’s daunting, overwhelming, and complicated, too, but Gutterman knows passionate fans aren’t so much interested in all the logistics. Nope. They’re only thrilled that Every Shot Live is the ultimate supply that answers the demand.”

Full piece.

News

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

Published

1 day 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

2 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