Equipment
The clubs Martin Trainer used to win the Puerto Rico Open
Kevin C. Cox
Martin Trainer’s ascent to the PGA Tour was fairly remarkable to begin with. The fact he is now a PGA Tour winner is even more improbable.
Trainer, who finished fourth last season in Puerto Rico, won twice on the Web.com Tour despite entering the year without any status on a professional tour—but he entered Puerto Rico having missed five cuts in his eight events this season and didn't have a top-25 finish. Still, Trainer shined when the pressure was on Sunday.
“I was just trying to keep my card, that was my only goal,” Trainer said after winning the Puerto Rico Open on Sunday. Although the win doesn’t get him into the Masters, his schedule now includes the Players and the PGA Championship, and the 27-year-old gets a two-year PGA Tour exemption as well.
Dueling with Johnson Wagner most of the day, Trainer played the final nine at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club in three-under par, including birdies on the 15th and 18th holes. Trainer displayed a solid tee-to-green game, hitting 75 percent of his greens in regulation (ranked T-4) with his Srixon Z 785 irons and then converting his share of opportunities. Trainer, who has a penchant for laying flat on the ground to read putts, used a Bobby Grace Amazing Grace—a triangular-shaped, high moment of inertia mallet—to rank second in the field in putts per green in regulation. And that helped him rank first where it mattered most, on the leader board.
What Martin Trainer had in the bag at the Puerto Rico Open:
Ball: Srixon Z Star
Driver: Callaway Rogue, 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Callaway Rogue, 15 degrees
Irons (2): Srixon ZU 85; (4-PW): Srixon Z 785
Wedges: Cleveland RTX-4 (52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Bobby Grace Amazing Grace