People say the best players in the world in any sport are never satisfied and it has never been truer than in the sport of golf.
Ahead of the start of the FedEx cup at the FedEx St.Jude Classic, the top two players in the world and numbers two and three on the FedEx cup standings have decided to make putter changes on the eve of the tournament.
World number 2 Rory Mcilroy is ditching the spider for a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 mallet style putter in the hopes of reigniting his putting form from 2022, where he secured his record breaking 3rd FedEx cup title.
McIlroy is 86th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season after having the best putting year of his career in 2022, ranking a career-high 16th in that category.
The Northern Irishman was left dumbfounded and frustrated after a host of missed birdie putts over the weekend at Royal Liverpool halted his charge at a second claret jug.
The scenes were not too dissimilar from a year previous where Mcilroy was brilliant tee to green but failed to make the putts leading to another year without a major.
Mcilroy told the media in Memphis on Wednesday that the decision is not as dramatic as it may seem.
“Honestly, I just wanted a different look, just wanted to freshen it up,” McIlroy said. “I’ve got my Spider with me this week if that putter isn’t doing what I want it to do over the first couple days. I may go back. I just wanted to freshen it up”.
“Honestly, it was a zero testing process. It was to go into the garage and see what I had and just pull a couple out and go have a few putts. That was it.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler has made the switch to a completely different style of putter in the hopes of fixing his putting woes that have plagued him since his ascent to the top of the world rankings.
Scheffler was spotted testing putters earlier this week and has decided to put a new TaylorMade Spider TourX “SS Proto” putter in the bag in the hopes of finding success on the greens.
Scheffler, who has always used a scotty cameron said the mysterious looking putter has the feel of a blade putter with the look of a mallet. Scheffler says he’s excited to try it out this week.
“The guys at TaylorMade have done a lot of work for me with the putter,” Scheffler explained.
View this post on Instagram
“I’ve always liked the visual of that Spider putter, but I really just did not like the feel. That’s something we discussed, kind of the feel and – I’ve always struggled with putters that have a lot of weight in the back side of it, and this one is a bit different than a lot of the Spiders that they’ve made, and the weight is more in the front so it has the feel of a blade putter that I like but it also has a lot of that visual on the top where it’s easier for me to line up.”
“The margins in this game are so close, so it’s something that I feel really comfortable with where the balance point is on this putter, and I’m excited to try it out this week.”
Mcilroy and Scheffler are alongside Jon Rahm in a star studded pairing consisting of the top three players in both the FedEx Cup and the World Rankings. They get underway at TPC Southwind at 9.26am local time, 3.26pm Irish time today.
Leave a comment