NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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What would Phil Mickelson do next to get the golf world talking?
We all figured it would be something at this week’s Ryder Cup where Mickelson is a vice captain for Steve Stricker. For gear nerds, however, he delivered an early gift.
The six-time major champ showed up to the season-opening Fortinet Championship in the wine country of Northern California with an arm-lock putter, using the popular and controversial method that has players placing an extended grip of the club against the inside of their lead arm to reduce rotation in the stroke. Mickelson had been experimenting with the style since the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and finally felt comfortable enough to use it in competition.
“It takes a little getting used to, but it seems like I’ve had moments where I just start rolling it in from everywhere,” Mickelson said.
The custom Odyssey PM Mille Proto Blade is similar to a shorter version that Mickelson has employed for years, but it has slightly added loft and a longer shaft. A SuperStroke WristLock grip on Mickelson’s putter is 17 inches long, making the putter 41 inches long.
For context, Patrick Cantlay uses a 33-inch putter and standard length is slightly beyond that for most PGA Tour players.
Other notable players have tried this recently and then retreated. Xander Schauffele went to the arm-lock style at the Memorial but ditched it by the time the Open Championship arrived. That worked out in his favor as he won a gold medal at the Olympics with a conventional putter.
“I switched because the arm lock was a little too slow, I guess, I couldn’t hit putts hard enough,” Schauffele said.
Mickelson, however, immediately thrived with the technique. After a downright awful summer of golf following his miraculous PGA Championship win, Mickelson surged into contention in California because of his putting. Through three rounds, he ranked tied for fifth in strokes gained putting and had picked up more than five strokes against his peers.
It was quite a reversal from what we’ve come to expect from Mickelson. His putting has been atrocious in recent years as his strokes gained ranking hasn’t been better than No. 116 the last three seasons.
When asked whether he will stick with the arm-lock, Mickelson gave it a positive review and explained why he feels so comfortable with the method.
“For a while, yeah, because it’s how I putted as a kid,” Mickelson said. “Like I always had a lot of forward press and all it’s doing now is getting in the same position (I had) as a kid, but it’s getting to that same position every time. I’m not overpressing, I’m not underpressing, so my launch characteristics when I get on the Quintic system is very consistent and that’s what I’m looking for.”
Sean Fairholm