NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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One week after the Range Rat wrote about how Justin Thomas may have found some life with a lengthened driver, a European counterpart seems also to be implementing an impactful gear change heading into the Ryder Cup.
Jon Rahm had a prototype Odyssey putter in his bag at Wentworth for the BMW Championship. The prototype appears to have many of the same characteristics as the Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S that fans are accustomed to seeing Rahm use. That includes a similar shape, slant neck, no alignment aid on the clubhead and adjustable heel-toe weights. However, there is now extra material between those weights and directly behind the face – potentially being used to push the center of gravity forward – and the clubhead is all-black with a white insert rather than the silver look of his previous gamer.
The name on the sole is “AI One,” indicating that the prototype could have a connection to Callaway’s focus on using artificial intelligence to build golf clubs. You can see Rahm’s initials and “Odyssey Rossie S” painted in blue, confirming it’s a similar model to what he had been using.
Other than that, we have scant details about the mystery putter. It does appear to have similar cosmetics, but not a similar shape, to the one Sam Burns used at the Tour Championship.
Rahm has quietly fallen to No. 6 in the Data Golf rankings after sitting at No. 1 in May. He played poorly, by his standards, in the FedEx Cup playoffs when he failed to register a top-15 finish in the three events. His putting especially let him down at the Memorial Tournament and the Tour Championship over the summer.
But the Masters winner had a nice putting week at the BMW PGA en route to finishing solo fourth, his best finish since a T2 in the Open Championship eight weeks earlier.
“It's clearly working,” Rahm said after Saturday’s round. “Feels good to be putting well.”
Since the 2018-19 PGA Tour season, Rahm has been very solid on the greens, ranking between 22nd and 42nd in strokes gained putting over those five seasons. This past season, he finished No. 37. This is not a situation of desperation to reverse particularly poor performance with the flatstick. We’ve seen that, to varying degrees of success, with Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Lucas Glover and others.
But Rahm clearly was looking for a confidence boost heading into the Ryder Cup, an event dominated by emotional momentum swings on the greens. Data can’t measure good vibes.
Be on the lookout this weekend. If Rahm gets rolling with the putter, it could be exactly what Europe needs to defend home turf.
Sean Fairholm