Justin Thomas’ rookie kicker takes a page from Cam Young

On the PGA Tour, when one player starts having success with something, it doesn’t take long for others to notice and try it themselves.

Specifically, putters catch fire more often than other clubs.

In recent years, the Jailbird madness of 2023 is a clear example, with Rickie Fowler, Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley. everyone wins with Jailbird Cruisers in the span of two months. This year, a host of professionals have flocked there TaylorMade’s Spider putters after the many victories of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

now, Cam Young’s Phantom 9.5R has the potential to be the next hot player.

This week, Justin Thomas made the transition to a quintessential shot put after Young won the Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship over the past month and a half.

It’s Thomas’ second switch in a month after he fielded his Phantom 5.5 middle player at the RBC Heritage last month and played well over the weekend using a Newport 2 GSS spare blade.

He continued to use that shooter last week, but at Quail Hollow, he wanted to find something that would last a long time. He had worked himself to almost 0 wins: putting behind him a disastrous start to his season at Bay Hill, before a tough opening two rounds at Harbor Town. He missed the blade shots last week in Miami.

“Some of it is just calibration. … some of it is just, he, you know, the potential to make good putts, but not seeing anything go in the way of things,” Scotty Cameron Tour representative Brad Cloke told GOLF. “It just seemed like he wanted to start over a little bit this week.”

So he asked for some new gear, including some 9.2Rs, a shape he used before, and a copy of Cam Young’s 9.5R.

“I literally texted Cameron’s guys and said, ‘Give me Cameron’s barrel,'” said Thomas on Friday, who played with Young the first two days.

Not an unusual request.

Scotty Cameron 2026 Phantom 9.2R Custom Putter

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“Obviously with the success that Cam is having … these guys are the way they see success and they want to see what it’s potentially about,” Cloke said.

In addition to having a low-spin shaft that mimics the look and fingerboard hang of a jet neck, Thomas’s 5.5 also has smooth face milling that makes it a bit louder and stronger.

His new shot matches Young’s so it has a ground face in the middle, but he actually prefers the grind on the new 9.5R.

“It was more like, ‘Hey, this is different, but I kind of like it,'” Cloke said. “The comment I heard from him was about the feel, but it was more like, ‘I’m actually surprised I like the way this feels.’

While the putter is Thomas’ specified length and has his own control, it has the same graphite shaft that Young uses and a full-length sight line. Thomas found that this made lining up very easy.

“It’s so hard to keep good if you don’t have confidence, and so hard to have confidence if you don’t see it come in more often,” Thomas said. “So I really, really worked hard Monday through Wednesday on my speed and my starting line and everything where I just felt like I was in a better place and more liberated when I was pitching.”

Through two rounds, he has been very successful as Thomas sits at seven under on the weekend and is gaining nearly three shots on the field, good for a top 10 stat.

Sahith Theegala’s youngest footballer was no fluke, after all

While the biggest story in Ping shooters was Tony Finau’s strange technique with a prototype Oslo Onset long shooter earlier in the week, he ended up returning to The start of Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue he passed in February.

In fact, Ping’s Ally Blue head model had a good week, earning two high-profile conversions, one so surprising Ping Tour representative Kenton Oates didn’t even take it seriously.

Sahith Theegala, who, as we profiled on Bag Spy this weeklikes to practice with random players every week on the PGA Tour before returning to his longtime player Anser was losing a putting contest on the green using an Ally Blue H when Oates asked him to try his player.

“He says, ‘This is what I used on Cadillac Sunday,'” Oates said. “And I go, ‘What? He says, “Yeah, I think I’ll use it on Thursday.”

Theegala continued on Thursday in the first round of the Truist Championship and kept it in the bag for Friday.

Turns out this wasn’t just another random practitioner for Theegala; that’s something he’s been working on with Ping’s lead design engineer, Tony Serrano. He’s actually had the shooter for over a year.

Theegala began working on a hammer thrower with Serrano, feeling that he could gain forgiveness for his Anser blade.

“The main thing about him is, he’s got a certain swing, a certain spin to his shot that requires something with his toe down,” Serrano said. “He’s always played an Anser 2 that hangs at those 40 or 42 degrees that work perfectly for his swing.”

PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Custom Onset Putter

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The Ally Blue H has the same plumber neck tube that the Theegala is used with and similar CG and toe hang characteristics, making it a more natural transition.

At the RSM Classic last November, Serrano and Theegala spent a lot of time with a Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue H, but it was the PLD Milled version that ended up in the bag. Theegala also ended up putting in a counterweight, but Serrano didn’t know when or why he added it himself.

A new Ally Blue H is also in Kristoffer Reitan’s bag as the PGA Tour rookie finds himself three off the lead heading into the weekend.

Reitan’s PLD Milled Ally Blue H is virtually identical to the Scottsdale Tec version, complete with aluminum head, steel soleplate and PEBAX insert. But it was made from scratch to have an uninterrupted line of sight.

After visiting Ping’s placement lab in February, the Ping team discovered that Reitan needed a putter with more toe hang than the face-balanced model he was using. He liked the feel of the Scottsdale TEC and the visuals with the whitehead, but just wanted a full line of sight.

Serrano said it was simply easier to make it a new PLD driver than to repurpose an existing Scottsdale TEC.

Rory McIlroy returns to the Qi4D 3-wood

In his first event since winning his second green jacket, Rory McIlroy changed the club he left out for his big Masters win.

After using a Qi4D wood since November, McIlroy returned to his Qi10 3-wood for the Masters and promptly won his fifth straight major for the club.

But it turns out to be a short-lived comeback for McIlroy as he turns to a Qi4D 3-wood at Quail Hollow, where he has won four times.

McIlroy said Wednesday that the change was made because his Qi4D had an error on the left.

“I had been using the 4D 3-wood earlier in the season. I noticed it had a bit of left bias on it,” McIlroy said. “So I went back to an old Qi10 for a while. But this one wasn’t, it really wasn’t spinning enough. It’s more like a mini driver than a 3-wood.”

McIlroy actually said that type of club could be useful at the Memorial, apparently teasing the use of it at Muirfield Village next month, but for this week at Quail Hollow and next week at the PGA Championship, he wanted something with a little more spin.

He began working on a new 3-wood with the TaylorMade team.

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Fairway Wood

PROVEN RECIPE TaylorMade Fairways have dominated the Tour for more than a decade due to their unique performance recipe that allows for maximum distance and versatility. The Qi4D fairway is designed for golfers who want cutting-edge technology while prioritizing versatility and control with amazing distance. REGULAR PERFORMANCE The use of a single Trajectory Adjustment System weight (8g x1) provides the golfer with a more mass efficient way to adjust flight, spin and swing weight. The 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust the loft angle, reach and face for optimized flight and is available on all lofts. REFINED ATTRIBUTES, BIG CHANGES Engineers conducted an objective analysis of all performance attributes and discovered new methods to increase performance and reliability. Landing points, layup angles, address views and center of gravity locations were all updated based on tournament feedback and the expertise of leading fairways around the world, ensuring the optimal fairway for all skill levels. PROVEN TOUR TECHNOLOGIES The new and improved Speed ​​Pocket™ upper cut protects ball speed and reduces spin on low face shots. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation for TaylorMade fairway performance. Twist Face™ features corrective face curvature designed to ensure straighter shots on the gums. Multi-material construction allows engineers to maximize performance while increasing curb weight.

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“After Augusta we went back and looked at the data and he was actually getting shots on center that were pulling a lot,” TaylorMade Tour representative Keith Sbarbaro said. “So the club was acting like he was fingering him.

“So what we did is we moved the CG a little bit more toward the toe to try to fix that. The next thing he was getting some underspinning shots that were knocking a little bit.”

With the new 3-wood, Sbarbaro said McIlroy hit eight shots that all spun between 3,100 and 3,300 RPM and flew straight to the mark. This will do!

Check this out

This section is dedicated to interesting photos we’ve taken recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Justin Thomas’ 10-year-old Titleist 915Fd 5-wood.

Odds and ends

A few more gear changes and notes we’re following this week.

Reitan also has a new Ping G440 K driver with a Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro White shaft. … Titleist launched the GTS300 Mini Driver on the PGA Tour this weekwith the name suggesting it is bigger than its predecessor. … Brooks Koepka started his post-Srixon era with one new Grove XXIII staff bag and set of Vokey SM11 wedges, along with a rare WedgeWorks 60B Lob Wedge. … Lucas Glover added the new GTS2 15.0 and 21.0 woods. … Five players added new TaylorMade Qi4D fairways: Nico Echavarria (Qi4D 3-wood), Jason Day (Qi4D 9-wood), Robert MacIntyre (Qi4D 7-wood), Denny McCarthy (Qi4D Tour 3-wood) and Matt Wallace (Qi4D 7-wood 7-wood) also moved to …