NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Patrick Cantlay has been on fire with his putter recently, especially when he gained more than 14 strokes on the greens compared to his competitors at the BMW Championship. That was a PGA Tour record in the ShotLink era, a 17-year time span with hundreds of tournaments measured.
It’s not necessarily a shock that Cantlay would set the record given his putting performance the past three years. After a 2018 season in which he ranked a dismal No. 153 in strokes gained putting, the former UCLA Bruin has ranked No. 26, No. 58 and No. 27 in the past three seasons. Among the crop of elite ballstrikers near the top of the world rankings, Cantlay ranks as one of the top putters. For context, Justin Thomas has been No. 144, No. 112 and No. 114 on the greens from 2019 onward.
Still, even solid putters like Cantlay can use a few tweaks now and then with the flatstick. Two recent changes have pushed his putting to a new level.
The first came when Cantlay switched into a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5 mallet at the Zurich Classic earlier this season; he would win three starts later at the Memorial. Fast-forward to the Northern Trust three weeks ago and Cantlay switched to an altered version of that putter mid-tournament, going with a small sightline on the topline, a move that mirrored the retail version of the putter.
Cantlay also moved to an all-black SuperStroke Flatso 1.0 grip starting at the BMW Championship, a move that was more about aesthetics than anything else. Only a few were made, and Cantlay put it on full display.
“I finally have one that feels absolutely perfect, and I can't thank those guys over at Scotty Cameron – Paul Vizanko and Jose (Hernandez) – enough,” Cantlay said. “They just sent me a ton of putters, and I got the magic one now.”
There was one other change that led to the historic putting week: Cantlay added a line on the side of his Titleist Pro V1x to help with alignment on short putts. He only uses it on 3- to 5-footers without much break, allowing him to get more specific about his target.
In a follow-up to the saga of Rory McIlroy throwing his 3-wood into the trees during the final round of the Northern Trust: The club was found when a grounds-crew member spotted it in plain sight next to the tee six days later. The facility’s general manager, Lee Smith, theorized the club was dislodged from the neighboring trees when recent storms came through at Liberty National.
And what is the fate of the club? Smith said it will be displayed in the clubhouse, for all who visit to see.
Sean Fairholm