Despite the relative success so far this year, Tommy Fleetwood has made changes to the equipment.
Rory McIlroy opened the 2024 season with a victory at the Dubai Invitational thanks to a water shot on the 18th hole. But the Englishman never won again and continued his winless streak on the PGA Tour.
He made just two cuts all year, at Bay Hill and Royal Troon, and finished tied for third at Augusta National. He also won a silver medal at the Olympics. It's been a successful year by all accounts, with top-12 or better finishes in each of his three recent DP World Tour events.
However, Fleetwood arrived in Abu Dhabi this week with a new putter. He has been testing the new TaylorMade prototype at home for the past month and is excited to use it this week in the first race of the DP World Tour Playoffs. Maybe this will pay off and give him another win soon. After all, Fleetwood's putting statistics are down significantly in 2024 compared to 2023.
Consider this: In 2023, the year of Fleetwood's Ryder Cup victory, the Englishman ranked 14th on Tour in putts gained. Even more impressive is that he ranks first on the PGA Tour in first-putt percentage, requiring just one stroke 44.4 percent of the time. He ranks sixth in putts per round and 20th in birdie conversion rate. When Fleetwood closes in on the hole, he usually changes course. No wonder he made 15 of 28 cuts on the PGA Tour in 2023 and had eight top-10s, twice as many as this year.
Fleetwood's birdie conversion rate dropped more than 4 percentage points in 2024, from 33.64% to 29.22%, dropping him from 20th to 151st in that metric. He also saw a significant decrease in putts made, putts per round and first-putt percentage. However, not all hope is lost. Fleetwood ranks 18th on tour in making putts within 10 feet, almost 90 percent of the time. But his other putting numbers pale in comparison to previous seasons.
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He needs to change something, so he feels obligated to try it this week — and considering we're not yet in the grueling phase of the PGA Tour season, it's the perfect time to do so.
“I love testing my equipment and testing new and different things, but with the schedule, it's very difficult. These tournaments are so close to each other that there never seems to be a big or unimportant event,” Fleetwood said Wednesday.
“Looking forward to going there [on Thursday] And putting that into competition because it's the only thing I haven't done yet, so that's exciting. “
Wednesday on the greens. Fleetwood spoke to former European Tour stalwarts Ken Brown and David Howell, both of whom now work in broadcasting.
“We've had some great conversations over the years about putting and I always enjoy meeting the guys and talking about the game. It's great to be around guys who are still passionate about the game,” Fleetwood added road.
“We were talking about my putting and some stuff, and [they are] Two great putters, two of the best putters I've ever seen. So you're all taking lessons and continuing to learn. “
Perhaps Fleetwood will follow the lead of Scottie Scheffler, who switched from blade putters to mallet putters before the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Scheffler would go on to win eight more events in 2024, including the Masters and the Olympics; he would also win the Player of the Year award again. Interestingly, when McIlroy appeared on the radio during the Genesis Invitational in February, he suggested the world No. 1 should use a mallet instead. Scheffler struggled on the greens in January and February, finishing near the bottom of the rankings almost every week. The gavel then turned the tide and set Scheffler up for a historic year.
As for Fleetwood, no one knows how that move will pay off this week, next week in Dubai or beyond. But sometimes, professional golfers need to make small changes to improve the smallest parts of their game, and these moves often pay off. If they do that for Fleetwood, keep an eye out for him in 2025. After all, he will be playing on the PGA Tour.
Jack Milko is the golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Get more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jackmilko as well as.
