Equipment
This PGA Tour stat might predict Justin Rose's success at this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational
Justin Rose has won 10 PGA Tour events and when he tees it up at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, he has a decent shot to make it No. 11. Not just because Rose is one of the best players in the game, but he possesses a skill set previous winners have shown to be useful at Bay Hill Club & Lodge: the ability to make putts from outside 10 feet. Each of the last six winners of the API have ranked inside the top 10 in that statistic for the week, with three of them ranking either first or second. That bodes well for Rose and the four other highest-ranked players in this PGA Tour stat that are in the field. Here are those players and the putters they use.
Keyur Khamar
Justin Rose
Putts holed from 10-plus feet: 29.41 percent
Putter: Axis 1
Saying “the putter was a huge reason” why he left TaylorMade and signed with Honma, Rose was referring to having the flexibility to use a putter from Axis 1, a company located outside of Boston. The putter features a technology and a hosel that allows its putters to be perfectly balanced, resisting the clubhead from twisting during the stroke. For Rose, he has seen the early returns—as he is holing nearly three of 10 putts from outside 10 feet, and he already won the Farmers Insurance Open this year.
Rob Carr
Vaughn Taylor
Putts holed from 10-plus feet: 21.71 percent
Putter: Odyssey Versa 2 Black
Taylor used a large mallet-style putter from Directed Force (pictured) during the Fall part of the PGA Tour’s schedule before switching to an Odyssey Versa Black 2 model. Taylor has a reason for going back to the putter, which features a black-and-white striping pattern on the head to help the player determine if they are properly lined up to that target. As Taylor’s stats reveal, he’s on line outside 10 feet a fair amount of the time.
Streeter Lecka
Patton Kizzire
Putts holed from 10-plus feet: 21.17 percent
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist GoLo Tour
When you’ve won twice on the PGA Tour using the same putter in both, it’s hard to break up with that club. That’s been the case with Kizzire and his Scotty Cameron by Titleist GoLo mallet. The fact Kizzire has stayed with the club is not surprising given his approach to putting. Kizzire has never had a putting lesson, honing his stroke as a youngster by participating in putting games with other kids where the stakes were a Coke or a golf ball. He’s playing for larger stakes now, but the stroke remains the same—as does his putter.
Jeff Gross
Brian Gay
Putts holed from 10-plus feet: 21.03 percent
Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist TN2
Gay is one of the shortest hitters on the PGA Tour (he currently ranks 210th on tour at 274 yards—spotting distance leader Bubba Watson 44 yards), so he needs to make up for that power outage by mastering his game on the greens. Gay continues to do just that using this tour-only version of the Scotty Cameron’s well-known Newport 2 blade model. The putter has Cameron’s hallmark red circle T and FOR TOUR USE ONLY stamped on the sole.
Jared C. Tilton
Graeme McDowell
Putts holed from 10-plus feet: 20.86 percent
Putter: Odyssey White Hot 7
When it comes to equipment, PGA Tour pros are always seeking the latest technology to help them play better. The one exception is putters, where memories of big putts holed can keep a flat stick in the bag well past its prime. Such is the case of McDowell’s Odyssey White Hot 7, a putter model that dates back to 2001. The putter has an insert made from golf-ball cover material that is lighter than the steel it replaces to increase perimeter weighting. McDowell used the putter during his lone major win at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links.