NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Scotty Cameron is rolling out 10 new Phantom prototype putters on tour in the coming weeks, and players at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii got their first look at four new mallet designs for 2024: the T-5, T-5.5, T-7 and T-7.5.
Cameron Young actually put the first new Phantom model to work in the season-opening Sentry, using a new Phantom T-5 with a prototype knuckle neck after testing it at home in the week leading up to Kapalua.
“That Phantom shape, for one, helps my alignment,” Young said. “And then also just the forgiveness of a mallet is important. I feel like anything that you can do to make the off-center hits just a little better is always a good thing.”
Six additional Phantom family models will be unveiled gradually by Scotty Cameron tour reps Drew Page and Brad Cloke during the West Coast swing.
Meanwhile over at the DP World Tour’s first 2024 stop, Rory McIlroy picked up where he left off at the end of last season in Dubai – but not without some new sticks in the bag. McIlroy updated his gamer set with three new TaylorMade woods and a putter en route to his runner-up finish at the Dubai Invitational.
McIlroy debuted TaylorMade’s new Qi10 driver at the DP World Tour Championship last November as he completed his fifth Race to Dubai title. Last week, McIlroy switched from the Qi10’s LS (low spin) model (used by Dubai Invitational winner Tommy Fleetwood) to a 9-degree Qi10. The larger and more forgiving Qi10 prompted him to add length to his driver (45 inches) and switch back into Fujikura Ventus Black shafts.
He also debuted a Qi10 3-wood (15 degrees) and 5-wood (18) due to the optimal spin numbers they produced, according to TaylorMade.
At the other end of his bag, McIlroy debuted a Spider Tour X putter after two months of testing it during the offseason. The new putter is one piece with an aluminum soleplate and weights in the sole instead of having weights in the wings as with his previous Spider gamer.
Chris Kirk delivered the first tour victory for Callaway’s artificial intelligence putters, using a new Odyssey Ai-One Milled Six T CH (crank hosel) mid-mallet putter to win the Sentry. Kirk had switched to the Ai-One Milled No. 7 at last fall’s RSM Classic, but after off-season home testing opted for the Six T CH model, according to Odyssey player rep Cody Hale.
“That mid-mallet shape really suits his eye. And the Ai-tech in the face is helping him better retain ball speed on his slight mis-hits and off-center strikes,” Hale told GolfWRX.com.
Staff report