NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
The Ryder Cup ultimately always comes down to a putting contest with the team that converts more taking home the biggest little trophy in golf (it’s three inches shorter than the Claret Jug).
Interestingly, there were 23 different models of putters wielded at Bethpage Black from seven different manufacturers. TaylorMade, Scotty Cameron and Odyssey each had six putters in play while Ping had three. L.A.B. Golf, LA Golf and Bettinardi each had one player using their putters on Long Island.
All six TaylorMade putters were a version of the Spider Tour, including the Spider Tour Z that Shane Lowry used to sink the 6-foot putt that sank the hopes of Team USA’s furious rally to win back the Ryder Cup. The Euros got 10 combined points from its Spider users including Rory McIlroy (Tour X3) and the only duplicate model deployed – the Spider Tour Blacks of Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre. Americans Scottie Scheffler (Tour X) and Collin Morikawa (Tour V) underwhelmed with only 1½ combined points in the singles.
The Scotty Camerons were more heavily invested on the American side with five prototypes in use by leading U.S. points earner Cameron Young (Phantom 9.5 Tour), Justin Thomas (Phantom 5 Tour), Patrick Cantlay (Phantom 7.2 Tour), Ben Griffin (Concept 2 Tour) and Russell Henley (Phantom X5 Tour), who unfortunately left his critical 10-footer short on 18 to open the door for Lowry’s Cup-retaining celebration. Justin Rose was the only European player using a Scotty Cameron T-5, and he used it well in picking up 2 points.
Four Europeans gamed Odyssey putters: Jon Rahm (Ai-One Rossie S), Ludvig Åberg (White Hot Versa), Sepp Straka (Stroke Lab Tuttle) and Rasmus Højgaard (Ai-One Milled Jailbird Mini T DB) – the only player on either side who failed to earn any points. Two Americans repped Odyssey – Xander Schauffele (Toulon Design Las Vegas Prototype 7CH) and Sam Burns (Ai-One 7S).
Ping’s PLD Oslo technically delivered the winning half point from Tyrrell Hatton while the Ping PLD DS72 (Viktor Hovland) and Scottsdale Hohum (Harris English) sat out the singles session.
Of the three loner brands in the hands of Ryder Cuppers, they each had some moments. Bettinardi got the biggest bang and 2½ points from Matthew Fitzpatrick and his DASS BB48 Prototype. Bryson DeChambeau got a lot of attention with his LA Golf Bryson Proto while U.S. teammate J.J. Spaun collected 2 points with the same L.A.B. Golf DF3 with which he won the U.S. Open in style.
Scott Michaux