NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
BROUGHT TO YOU BY GOLF PRIDE, THE #1 GRIP ON TOUR
Sometimes the equipment solution needed by a player doesn’t require a trip to the tour van.
Before departing his South Florida home for the U.K. swing, Rory McIlroy went into his garage and found a club that he thought could be useful at Royal Liverpool, site of the Open Championship. That stick was a TaylorMade P760 2-iron, a 17-degree weapon that, due to the firmness of links golf, could be used at the Open off the tee in addition to attacking the course’s three par 5s. It could, in theory, be used to replace his 3-iron or 5-wood – clubs with a higher launch and more spin. McIlroy already had added P760 3- and 4-irons earlier in the year at the WM Phoenix Open, citing extra flight as the main reason why.
The history here was promising. When McIlroy won the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool, he had taken his 5-wood out in exchange for a Nike MM Proto 2-iron.
This time, McIlroy had success with his inserted 2-iron before he even got to Hoylake, England. McIlroy used the club several times during the Genesis Scottish Open, including on the 72nd hole when he hit a cut stinger directly back into the wind to set up a final birdie that gave him the win, one stroke ahead of Robert MacIntyre.
And then the 2-iron was everywhere a week later. For instance, McIlroy hit the club off the tee on the closing par-5 18th to avoid the internal out of bounds, and then it was an option to hit the 2-iron again to reach the green.
There were many other interesting gear nuggets from the Open Championship. One of our favorites is the equipment of amateur Christo Lamprecht, the 6-foot-8 rising senior from Georgia Tech who shot an opening 5-under 66 to become the first amateur to break 70 at the Open Championship hosted by Royal Liverpool.
Lamprecht is so tall, you would assume he grew up needing to use a 48-inch driver, but he instead developed a massive dip in his downswing to accommodate for a shorter driver, which he learned to use in his youth. He played a 46.25-inch driver before the USGA limited driver length to 46 inches, so he lost only a quarter-inch and claimed it didn’t really affect him. After all, he registered a ball speed north of 190 mph off the 15th tee during the opening round at Hoylake.
Interestingly, Lamprecht’s irons and wedges are 1.5 inches more than standard. Ping reps say Lamprecht’s wedges are easily the longest wedges they have ever built for a tour player.
The Range Rat also was intrigued by a surprising gear change from Phil Mickelson.
It’s been well-documented how Callaway, which signed its longtime frontman to a “lifetime contract” in 2017, paused its relationship with Mickelson after his controversial comments about Saudi Arabia were made public in February 2022. Although Mickelson still plays a bag of mostly Callaway clubs, he came to Hoylake with a pair of Ping clubs: a 9-degree G430 LST driver and a 15-degree G430 Max 3-wood.
That alone was a stunner given Mickelson’s two-decade run using Callaway lumber, but it also was revealed that he requested to test the driver only a few days before the tournament.
It was just the latest positive headline for Ping. The company had a new prototype iron in play this past week, and two of its prominent players, Tyrrell Hatton and Viktor Hovland, immediately put some of the new sticks into their gamer set. And the G430 Max fairway wood that Mickelson used is being called the hottest fairway wood on tour. During one stretch this summer, it was the most-played fairway wood on the PGA Tour in four consecutive weeks.
Sean Fairholm