Brooks Koepka made a putter switch ahead of WM Phoenix Open. So did it help?
Brooks Koepka looks on from the 14th green during the first round of the 2026 WM Phoenix Open.
Justin Edmonds
Brooks Koepka has succumbed to Mallet Mania.
Following an especially brutally week on the greens at Torrey Pines during his return to the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open—where Koepka said "it can't get any worse"—the five-time major champion made a last-minute switch to the TaylorMade Spider ahead of the WM Phoenix Open, a tournament he's won twice in his career.
Golfweek's Eamon Lynch was the first to report the big equipment news:
Golf Channel and NBC's Smylie Kaufman also captured a photo of Koepka rolling a few with the popular mallet late on Wednesday evening. "Expecting a new bat tomorrow for BK," the former tour pro wrote:
This makes Koepka the latest superstar player to make the switch to the Spider, ditching the trusty Scotty Cameron Teryllium Newport 2 blade he's gamed for roughly a decade. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler switched to the Spider in March 2024, then proceeded to win nine times, including the very first tournament he used it in, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as well as the Players, Masters and Tour Championship. Rory McIlroy also has used the Spider, though his is a bit more unique than the others, for years now, including his career-defining season last year.
Koepka will have whatever they're having.
"Trying to get the ball in the hole," Koepka said when asked what he's working on on the greens Wednesday. "Just really never felt comfortable over the ball. You've got to have everything squared up to the target. Just working on things like that. Real simple stuff, setup. Shoulders were open. My feet are always a little bit open but just trying to minimize the lines crossing so much.
"And yeah, just tried to keep everything more consistent, the face, the path, everything."
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Ideally, the mallet can only help. Despite winning five majors with the blade, it sounds like Koepka was long overdue for a change.
"I've been putting pretty poorly for the good side of two years," he said. "I don't know what's going on but I've got to figure it out."
Unfortunately for Koepka, the switch didn't lead to any immediate transformation. During Thursday's first round at TPC Scottsdale, he shot a four-over 75, leaving him well outside the top 100. Contributing to this was a strokes gained/putting of -3.633 for the opening round, ranking him 122nd in the field. He also holed just 29 feet of putts, which also was well outside the top 100.