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PGA: Tiger’s Putter, Brooks’ and Bryson’s Drivers All The Talk

By Kathlene Bissell

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 06: Tiger Woods of the United States lines up a putt on the 13th green during the first round of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on August 06, 2020 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 06: Tiger Woods of the United States lines up a putt on the 13th green during the first round of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on August 06, 2020 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /
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Drivers and putters and Tiger, oh my!

At any major championship, both the course and the players bring a few surprises. This week Tiger Woods’ putter, Brooks Koepka’s driver and Bryson DeChambeau’s broken driver were highlights of an otherwise, chilly morning and windy afternoon at the PGA Championship.

First, Tiger’s putter. While Woods did not mention it in his pre-tournament press conference, Golf Channel’s Notah Begay picked up on the weapon, reported to be more or less identical to Woods’ favorite Scotty Cameron except that it has a longer shaft and weights in the base.

“I’ve been messing around with this putter for the better part of over a year,” Woods explained to media after his round.

As Dottie Pepper said on ESPN this week, sometimes it just helps to use another putter for a while to get feels back for the one that’s your favorite.

Curtis Strange once benched his favorite Ping putter, and he was ruthless about it.

“Let him scream and sweat a little bit and get him back in the lineup, and he’ll be all right. He’s crying over in the locker right now. It’s good for him once in a while,” Strange said many years ago about the club.

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But Woods wasn’t mad at his flatstick. He needed to stand more upright while practicing because of his back.

“This putter is just a little bit longer, and I’ve been able to spend a little bit more time putting,” Woods added.

Mystery solved. However, having a heavier head may also be because of the greens at Harding Park which, while tournament speed, are not Masters speed or U.S. Open speed.

Then he started to sound little like a golfer who wants more from his putter than he’s been getting.

“There’s something familiar with my other one. I’ve won a few events with it,” he said. “But every now and again, it needs to be benched, and this was a good week for it.”

Woods has used different putters over the years, like the Nike Method and also a Taylormade putter, to name just two. This one, according to Golfwrx.com, is a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Timeless Prototype.

Koepka, who is trying to three-peat at the PGA, changed drivers, but it was not a big change.

“I went with the one I used to play,” he said to media after his round. “Same one, same shaft, same driver head but new.”

However, he’s not under contract to the driver manufacturer, so he’s not mentioning the brand.

“I’ve played it for quite a while, and I know what that driver does. I know what that shaft does,” he added. “When you’re swinging it well, it just goes back to the same thing I’ve done the last two years with that company.”

According to Golfwrx.com he’s playing the TaylorMade M5 (10.5 degrees) with the Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 70 TX.

But Bryson De Chambeau also made headlines.  In his case it was by hitting his driver so hard that it caused the driver head and shaft to come apart.

Luckily for him, because he did not damage the club in anger, he was allowed to replace it. He got a new shaft before he needed to hit the club again.

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