The Masters
Masters 2024: It appears Brooks Koepka has not made up his mind on which putter he'll be using this week
Warren Little
AUGUSTA, Ga. — One of the indelible images in all of Brooks Koepka's major championship victories is him wiping the face of his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 SLT T10 blade putter, then lining up his ball on the toe and burying everything. That's why it came as such a shock last week at LIV Miami when the five-time major winner was seen sporting a very different type of flat stick - the Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 mallet.
Koepka did not have immediate success with it at Doral, shooting a pair of 77s over the weekend to finish T-46 in a 54-man field. Despite the shaky start with the mallet on the greens, Koepka had it back in the bag during his Monday practice round at Augusta National. Then, on Tuesday morning, during "Masters on the Range" coverage he told CBS Sports' Amanda Balionis that he felt "comfortable" with it last week in South Beach.
"I felt like I was hitting a lot of lips and good putts, but nothing was falling," he said. "We’ll just stick with it and see how it goes."
Later that same afternoon, Koepka had his normal blade style putter in his hands during his practice round, as Golf's Jonathan Wall was first to point out on Twitter:
It should be noted that even back when Koepka was still playing Nike equipment, he was using a blade. When Nike exited the equipment business in 2016, Koepka went back to the Scotty Cameron 2 SLT T10 putter, which he had used in his first PGA Tour victory at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Koepka used that one for his first four major titles. He had an updated version of it for his 2023 PGA Championship victory at Oak Hill, which appears to be the one he is holding in the photo above.
We'll see which one Koepka has in the bag on Wednesday. He plans to play in the par-3 contest with his wife, Jena, and their new baby son, Crew. Normally, for a mere mortal, tinkering during Masters week would be cause for concern, especially with putters. But given Koepka's history of success at the majors, including at this one, we'll trust that he knows what he's doing.
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