Justin Thomas' new putter takes a page from Cam Young

Outside of the PGA Tour, when one player starts to succeed at something, it doesn't take long for others to take notice and try it themselves.

Specifically, putters catch fire more often than other clubs.

In recent years, the 2023 Jailbird craze is an obvious example, with Rickie Fowler, Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley all winning with Jailbird Cruisers in the space of two months. This year, hordes of pros have flocked to TaylorMade's Spider putters after acquiring several Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy putters.

Now, Cam Young's Phantom 9.5R has the potential to be the next hot putter.

This week, Justin Thomas switched to an important copy of the putter after Young won the Players Championship and the Cadillac Championship a month and a half ago.

It's Thomas' second change of a month after he benched his Phantom 5.5 mid-ranger at the RBC Heritage last month and performed well over the weekend using the Newport 2 GSS blade.

He continued to use that putter last week, but at Quail Hollow, he wanted to find something that would stick for a long time. He almost earned himself back to 0 strokes gained: after a poor start to his season at Bay Hill, before a painful opening two rounds at Harbor Town. He lost a stroke with a blade last week in Miami.

“Some of it is just balance. … some of it is, he, you know, the ability to make good putts but he doesn't see anything going on in that type of thing,” Scotty Cameron Tour representative Brad Cloke told GOLF. “It seemed like he wanted to start a little bit from scratch this week.”

So he ordered a few new putters, including 9.2Rs, a shape he had used before, and a copy of Cam Young's 9.5R.

“I texted the Cameron guys and said, 'Just give me Cam's putter,'” said Thomas Friday, who played with Young the first two days.

It is not an unusual request.

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“Obviously, with the success Cam has had … these guys see success and want to see what it's all about,” Cloke said.

In addition to having a low-bend shaft that mimics the look and toe hang of a jet neck, Thomas's 5.5 also has a smooth grinding surface that makes it more resonant and durable.

His new putter is in line with Young's so it has a medium face, but he actually preferred to grind with the new 9.5R.

“It was like, 'Hey, this is different, but I like it,'” Cloke said. “The talk I got from him was about feeling, but it was like, 'I'm actually surprised that I like the way this feels.'”

Although the putter is Thomas' spec length and has its own grip, it has the same graphite shaft used by Young and a full length sight line. Thomas found that made planning much easier.

“It's very difficult to putt well if you don't have confidence, and it's very difficult to have confidence unless you see it come in often,” said Thomas. “So, really, I worked hard from Monday to Wednesday on my speed and I start the line and everything when I feel like I'm in a better place and I'm more comfortable when I put.”

Through two rounds, it was a huge success as Thomas sat at seven under for the weekend and gained nearly three strokes from the field, good for the top 10 in the standings.

Sahith Theegala's new putter didn't just appear, in the end

While the big story in Ping putters was Tony Finau's long prototype Oslo Onset putter earlier in the week, he ended up going back to the Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue Onset he switched to in February.

In fact, Ping's Ally Blue headshape had a solid week, earning two top conversions, one that Ping Tour Rep Kenton Oates didn't take seriously.

Sahith Theegala, as we profiled on Bag Spy this week, who likes to practice with random putters each week on the PGA Tour before returning to his longtime Anser, was losing a practice contest using the Ally Blue H when Oates called out to him to try his putter.

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

Theegala followed up on Thursday in the first round of the Truist Championship and kept it in the bag on Friday as well.

Turns out, this wasn't another random practice putter by Theegala; this is something he worked on with Ping Principal Design Engineer Tony Serrano. He's actually had the putter for over a year.

Theegala began working on a mallet combination with Serrano, feeling that he could earn forgiveness for his Anser laugh.

“The important thing for him is, he has a certain stroke, a certain rotation in his stroke that needs something with the toe down,” Serrano said. “He always plays an Anser 2 that hangs at 40 or 42 degrees which works very well for his stroke.”

PING Scottsdale TEC Ally Blue Start Custom Putter

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The Ally Blue H has the same plumber neck hosel that Theegala uses and the same CG construction and hanging toes, making it a natural transition.

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

A new Ally Blue H is in the bag for Kristoffer Reitan as the PGA Tour rookie finds himself on top of the weekend.

Reitan's PLD Milled Ally Blue H is almost identical to the Scottsdale Tec version, complete with aluminum head, steel single plate and PEBAX insert. But it was designed from scratch to have an uninterrupted line of sight.

After visiting Ping's PLD putter in February, the Ping team discovered that Reitan needed a putter with more hanging toe than the face-size model he was using. He liked the feel of the Scottsdale TEC and the visibility of the white head, but he just wanted a full line of sight.

Serrano said it was easier to make him the new head of PLD than to reuse the existing Scottsdale TEC.

Rory McIlroy returns to the Qi4D 3-wood

In his first event back since winning his second green jacket, Rory McIlroy swapped the same club for his biggest Masters victory.

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

But that turned out to be a temporary turnaround for McIlroy as he returned to the Qi4D 3-wood at Quail Hollow, where he has won four times.

McIlroy said on Wednesday the change was made because his Qi4D was missing to the left.

“I had been using the 4D 3-wood earlier in the season. I noticed that it just had a little bit of a left bias to it,” McIlroy said. “So I went back to the old Qi10 for a while. But it wasn't, it wasn't swinging enough. It's more like a small driver than a 3-wood.”

McIlroy said that type of club would actually be useful at the Memorial, seemingly teasing that he would use it at Muirfield Village next month, but this week at Quail Hollow and next week at the PGA Championship, he wanted something a little different.

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

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Fairway Wood

Proven Recipe TaylorMade Fairways have dominated the Tour for over a decade thanks to their unique recipe for performance, enabling superior distance and flexibility. The Qi4D fairway is designed for golfers who want the most advanced technology while prioritizing flexibility and control with incredible distance. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE Using a single Trajectory Correction System weight (8g x1) gives the golfer the most efficient way to adjust weight for flight, spin and swing. A 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for improved flight and is available for all lofts. VERIFIED PERFORMANCES, BIG CHANGES Engineers conduct objective analysis of all aspects of performance and find new ways to improve performance and reliability. Landing points, lie angles, address views, and center of gravity areas were all updated based on tour feedback and the expertise of the world's leading raters, ensuring the perfect approach for all skill levels. BATOUR-PROOF TECHNOLOGY-The new and improved Speed ​​​​​​​​Pocket™ cutter protects ball speed and reduces swing on low face shots. Advanced CAD modeling creates a clean and powerful sounding design, the foundation of TaylorMade fairway performance. Twist Face™ has an adjustable face curvature designed to deliver straight shots on mishits. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to increase performance by increasing the weight of choice.

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“After Augusta we went back and looked at the data and he was actually getting more center strikes,” TaylorMade Tour representative Keith Sbarbaro said. “So the club was just playing for themselves, it was touching the left gear.
“So what we did was we moved the CG slowly to the toe to try to replicate that. The other thing was he was getting low shots that hit a little bit.”

With the new 3-wood, Sbarbaro said McIlroy hit eight shots that all hovered between 3,100 and 3,300 RPM and flew right into the target. That will do!

check this out

This section is dedicated to the great photos we recently took on Tour, but didn't have a reason to share until now. This week, check out Justin Thomas' Titleist 915Fd 5-wood for 10 and over.

Odds and ends

Some gear changes and notes we're tracking this week.

Reitan also has a new Ping G440 K driver with a Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro White shaft. … Titleist introduced the GTS300 Mini Driver on the PGA Tour this week, with a name that suggests it's bigger than its predecessor. … Brooks Koepka began his post-Srixon era with a new Grove XXIII bag and a set of Vokey SM11 wedges, along with a rare WedgeWorks 60B Lob Wedge. … Lucas Glover added new GTS2 15.0 and 21.0 fairway 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) … The McCarthy Tour also switched to the Spider X.