Equipment
The clubs Mark O'Meara used to win the Cologuard Classic
Michael Cohen
Mark O’Meara continued to perpetuate the trend of older guys winning so far in 2019 on the PGA Tour Champions. The 62-year-old O’Meara won the Cologuard Classic by four shots over Darren Clarke, Scott McCarron, Kirk Triplett and Willie Wood to keep the theme of players in their late 50s and early 60s winning the first four events of the year.
At an age when most are thinking of Social Security checks and warm cookies and milk at bedtime, O’Meara was busy rattling off a tour-tying eight consecutive birdies after an opening par during the first round for a first-nine 28 that provided the impetus for a triumph a long time in the making.
Helping O’Meara in that play a new Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero driver and his work with the company’s X Forged 18 irons, which he used to rank fourth in greens in regulation at 74.04 percent. The driver features a face design driven by artificial intelligence, while the irons rely on a shape originally seen in the company's 2013 version of its X Forged club.
O’Meara hadn’t seen the winner’s circle since winning twice on the senior circuit in 2010, a span that stretched 3,066 days—a fact that wasn’t lost on the two-time major champion heading into Sunday.
“I knew it was going to be a lot of pressure,” he said. “It’d been nine years since I’d won. To play the front nine the way I did, to make five birdies, I’m really happy and very pleased.”
What Mark O’Meara had in the bag at the Cologuard Classic:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero, 9 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Epic Flash, 15 degrees
Hybrid: Callaway Apex, 18 degrees
Irons (3-PW): Callaway X Forged 18
Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 4 (52, 58 degrees)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot Pro