The Specs on Phil Mickelson’s New Belly Putter

Phil Mickelson’s latest addition (Courtesy of Odyssey)

MAYBE YOU HEARD. PHIL MICKELSON slipped a belly putter into his Callaway golf bag last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship. I’m being facetious. Of course you heard. The belly putter is all the rage. It’s dominating golf news.

So, in case you’re curious, here’s the dope on Phil’s new magic wand, as reported by the Hot List 365 blog at GolfDigest.com:

According to Odyssey, Mickelson’s belly putter is an Odyssey Sabertooth with a White Hot XG insert. The club is 45.5 inches long with a lie of 70 degrees. The putter also was custom weighted to put more weight behind the face. Lefty worked with Austie Rollinson, Odyssey's principal designer, on the putter.

The plan was to build Phil a belly putter like the one used by PGA champion Keegan Bradley, a Mickelson pal and practice partner. But Rollinson made some tweaks after he and Lefty met recently at the Odyssey Putting Lab in Carlsbad, California. The Mickelson version is a half-inch shorter and two degrees more upright than Bradley’s.

Phil had mixed results with it last week outside of Boston, finishing in a tie for 10th. His 9-under total included a 63 in the third round.

Do you think the switch will help Lefty putt better and win more?

−The Armchair Golfer

9/11 Tribute at Walmart NW Arkansas Championship Includes Free Admission

Yani Tseng

TO MARK THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY of 9/11, all active and retired service personnel (along with family members) and all fire, police and emergency employees will be admitted free to the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship during the entire week of the LPGA tournament. The event is held at the Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Arkansas.

On Sunday, September 11, the tournament’s final day, American flags will serve as pin flags on all 18 greens. Representatives from the four military branches and fire and police personnel in full uniform will serve as pin flag bearers. Hosted by U.S. Representative and military veteran Steve Womack, a brief 9/11 program will be conducted on the 18th green at the conclusion of play.

This year’s championship will have its best-ever field, with 47 of the top 50 players in the Rolex Rankings and the top 10 players on the LPGA money list competing in the event. Since the tournament’s inception in 2007, the purse has risen from $1.25 million to $2 million, and is now the highest non-major U.S. purse on the LPGA Tour.

World No. 1 Yani Tseng will defend her title. Last year Tseng fired 13 under (67-68-65) to beat Michelle Wie by a shot. Tseng has four wins this season, including two majors.

−The Armchair Golfer

(Photo: Courtesy of Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons License)

Bjorn Again—Ryder Cup Captaincy Ahead?

Editor’s note: Brian Keogh is a golf correspondent for The Irish Sun and a contributor to The Irish Times, Golf Digest Ireland and other golf publications. The following excerpt from Brian’s Irish Golf Desk is used with permission. 

By Brian Keogh
Special to ARMCHAIR GOLF

Courtesy of CallwayGolf.com

PAUL MCGINLEY FANS WILL BE appalled but Thomas Bjorn must be regarded as a likely candidate to skipper Europe when the Ryder Cup is played at Gleneagles in 2014. Judging by the blistering 62 he shot to win the Omega European Masters and jump to the top of the 2012 Ryder Cup qualifying table, the 40-year old Dane is playing well enough to make the 2014 team as a player. After all, his four-shot triumph over Martin Kaymer was his second win in a row and his third of the year.

Add to that the fact that he finished fourth in the Open and he fits the identikit picture of a Ryder Cup captain that McGinley and others declared as the standard when Colin Montgomerie was given the role two years ago.

Bjorn is very much a respected, current player but along with Darren Clarke, he is also the biggest threat to McGinley’s hopes of winning the ‘14 captaincy. The list of those likely to succeed Jose Maria Olazabal is not massively long but while it was always assumed that Clarke or Bjorn would do the job in the US in 2016, leaving 2014 to McGinley, that is far from clear cut with three years to go before the next home match.

One thing is sure, like Clarke and McGinley, Bjorn would have the respect of the young guns on tour, such as Rory McIlroy. The 22-year old opened with two birdies in Crans to top the leaderboard but then missed a series of chances on the greens and by the time he made back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th, Bjorn was out of sight.

“I’ve really gotten to know Thomas well over the years,” said McIlroy, who finished five behind in joint third after a 68.

“He was assistant at the Ryder Cup and when I played the Vivendi in 2009, he was the captain of the European team. To shoot a 62 is very impressive and I don’t think I could have done anything to beat that.”

Brian Keogh covers golf for The Irish Sun and contributes to a variety of golf publications. Pay him a visit at Irish Golf Desk.