Morikawa and Wolff even earned spots on TaylorMade’s Christmas card, alongside Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day. It’s safe to say that wasn’t in the cards when they signed big-money club deals six months ago out of school.
7. Bizarre rules infractions
It wouldn’t be a successful PGA Tour season without a couple wild rules infractions. We begin with Russell Henley, who was docked eight shots(!!) for violating the one-ball rule, which states a player can only use a specific brand and model during a competitive round. While handing out balls after signing for 69 at Mayakoba, Henley realized he had two different versions of Titleist’s Pro V1x in the bag: the standard ball and the “Left Dash” version. Even though he unknowingly used both balls during the round, he was forced to tack on eight shots — it was determined the ball had been played on four holes — leaving him outside the cut line.
Harold Varner III suffered a similar fate when his driver cracked prior to the opening round of the Players Championship. Varner assumed the club would be repaired off the course and returned to him during the round — with a conforming head — which is well within the rules of golf. What Varner didn’t anticipate was he’d have to rebuild the club himself after the head and shaft were brought out on the course. Simply building the club on the course instead of outside the ropes wound up costing Varner two shots. Lesson learned.
8. Bobby Jones ‘Calamity Jane’ sells at auction
In what is probably the closest anyone will ever come to owning Bobby Jones’ famed “Calamity Jane” putter, a lucky bidder won a replica version of the putter for less than $80,000. According to the auction house’s website, Spalding partnered with Jones to produce a replica of Calamity Jane from 1932-1935, including one version with a registration number that was reserved for custom orders built to a player’s specifications. Jones would go on to give one of his personal Calamity Jane putters, with the registration number, to club collector Fred X Fry. It’s unclear if Jones ever used the putter, but the simple fact it was in Jones’ possession makes it one of the most coveted clubs to ever hit the market.
9. Justin Rose finds another gear with Axis1
Already considered an elite putter, Rose reached new heights on the greens in 2019 with a relative unknown in Axis1. When Rose’s deal with TaylorMade expired at the end of 2018, he immediately started working with Axis1 founder Luis Pedraza on a custom Rose Proto mallet that would eventually go in play at the beginning of the year. It only took Rose two starts to notch his first win at Torrey Pines with the putter.
“I’d been wanting to use [Axis1] for a couple of years, but hadn’t been able to,” said Rose. “That was a big part of my decision and why I changed equipment.”
Rose improved in every statistical category on the greens during the 2018-19 Tour season, jumping from 43rd to 3rd in one-putt percentage and 73rd to 8th in three-putt avoidance, while validating Axis1’s technology at the same time. He even improved four spots in Strokes Gained: Putting, finishing the season 17th on Tour.
10. Tommy Fleetwood’s eBay putter
In one of the more amusing equipment stories of the year, Tommy Fleetwood’s caddie, Ian Finnis, decided to get his boss something special for his birthday in January: an older-model Odyssey DFX 2-Ball Blade he reportedly picked up for £90. The putter enjoyed a brief run in Fleetwood’s bag — it was the same model he used growing up — before he returned to his usual White Hot Pro #3. But with the putter running hot and cold toward the end of the season, Fleetwood again went back to the 2-Ball Blade in Switzerland, at the Omega European Masters, where he opened with 65. The round included an astounding 21 putts, which isn’t too shabby. There’s something about bargain putters that seems to bring out the best in the tour’s elite.
11. Francesco Molinari signs with Callaway
Most new equipment deals are announced shortly after the beginning of the year. In Francesco Molinari’s case, Callaway waited until March to unveil the 2018 Open champion as their prized signing. The deal had a few twists and turns that started when Molinari, who was a free agent at the time, arrived with a non-descript stand bag full of Callaway clubs at the Tour’s winners-only event in Hawaii. Molinari claimed he “was just testing,” but it wasn’t long after that he donned a Callaway lid at Bay Hill to make the deal official. Molinari would go on to win at Arnie’s place, putting an exclamation point on a massive week for the equipment brand.
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