NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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It’s obviously big news when a two-time major champion ranked No. 4 in the world changes caddies. So naturally Collin Morikawa’s recent switch to veteran looper Joe Greiner made a lot of headlines.
But more startling than that might be that Morikawa – just 28 years old – used a club more synonymous with old men at the signature Truist Championship two weeks ago. Morikawa slipped a 9-wood in his bag at Philadelphia Cricket Club at the suggestion of Greiner.
Morikawa, one of the best ball-strikers in the world, benched his 4-iron for the first two rounds at the Truist in favor of a 22.5-degree TaylorMade Qi35 9-wood. He used it on the 222-yard par-3 eighth hole on the Wissahickon Course in the first round, pulling it wide left.
While Morikawa, like a lot of players, has become comfortable using a 7-wood, the 9-wood hadn’t crossed his mind until Greiner mentioned it. Greiner’s old boss, Max Homa, had tested out a 9-wood in 2024.
“Look, I never even thought about a 9-wood,” Morikawa said in Philadelphia. “When we were flying here, I was just asking [Greiner] about 4-irons. It’s kind of a club, not that I struggle with, but I want to find the perfect distance and launch, especially in certain conditions. It was a perfect 9-wood, just a bad swing.”
Morikawa also opted to switch back to a couple trusted clubs – his trusty TaylorMade TP Soto blade putter and the TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver. He tried a mallet-style Spider Tour V at the RBC Heritage only to struggle on the greens. He hasn’t completely given up on the mallet experiment, but he’s not yet ready to go all in on the change.
“It’s not over,” Morikawa said in Philly. “The last few days at home, I was putting, I went back to the blade and made a lot of putts and felt comfortable. So why not stick with that instead of kind of going out on the putting green and spending an hour or two trying to figure out, ‘Do I use this, do I do that?’ ”
Morikawa’s driver switchback was more curious considering he actually improved statistically with the TaylorMade Qi35 model compared to the 2024 season with the Qi10.
Truist runner-up Shane Lowry found success with his backup Srixon ZXi 9-degree driver in Philadelphia, which was prompted by a crack found in his primary driver. Typically one of the best and most consistent players off the tee, Lowry admitted earlier this year that he’s been struggling to find the right driver fit this season even as he’s putting together one of his best seasons and climbed to No. 10 in the world for the first time.
At the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Lowry tested so many Srixon drivers he lost track of where he landed.
“What model? It’s another Srixon one. I have no idea,” Lowry said at Bay Hill, where he finished seventh. “I had about 15 drivers on the range on Tuesday here, so no idea which one I ended up with.
“It’s getting there, it felt a little better, but not as comfortable as I normally am. It’s normally one of the best clubs in my bag. But I feel like when I do get it in play I can be pretty dangerous.”
Patrick Cantlay, still searching for his first victory since the 2022 BMW Championship, made a rare putter switch a week before the PGA Championship, shelving his Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 Tour prototype in favor of a longer-winged Scotty Cameron Phantom 7.2. He also went from a double-bend neck to a plumber’s neck in the new model.
“He was looking for a familiar look to his old Scotty Cameron Newport 2 (blade) and this was the perfect match,” Drew Page, the tour rep for Scotty Cameron, told GolfWRX. “He was practicing with his blade, which prompted this.”
The move worked out. Cantlay picked up 3.2 strokes on the field putting (second) in the final round at Truist as he surged to a T4 finish with a closing 65.
Scott Michaux