Searching for a solution, Rory McIlroy gets putter cut down halfway through first playoff event

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Rory McIlroy arrived at the first PGA Tour playoff event at TPC Southwind wielding a new putter he’d plucked from the collection in his garage – a Scotty Cameron Phantom X T5.5 Tour Prototype mallet – and a simple outlook.

“I’ve got my [TaylorMade] Spider with me this week. If that putter isn’t doing what I want it to do over the first couple days, I may go back. I just wanted to freshen it up,” he said Wednesday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Through two rounds, the Scotty Cameron wasn’t exactly transforming McIlroy’s play on the greens. He was losing shots to the field in strokes gained: putting and was mired in the middle of the pack on the greens before he noticed a discrepancy.

Full-field scores from FedEx St. Jude Championship

“It’s funny, I didn’t really notice it in practice, and then once I got into competitive play, I always put my right hand on my putter first to go in and out. I just felt like where my right hand was at the top, it just felt a little too up,” McIlroy said. “I compared it to my Spider last night, it was like half an inch [longer than his normal putter]. It wasn’t like a huge difference.”

With the equipment trucks having already left town, McIlroy’s caddie, Harry Diamond, took the putter to an area Edwin Watts Golf shop and had it cut down ½ inch.

“But then he got in touch with [an equipment rep] from Scotty Cameron, and he was sort of like, it probably moved a swing weight or two, so just added a bit of weight to it this morning to try to balance it out. But it felt better,” said McIlroy, who was slightly improved on the greens Saturday on his way to a 68, leaving him five shots off the pace and tied for sixth place.