Lefty going to take a shot to the belly in effort to fix yips
NORTON, Mass. -- It's late afternoon, on the eve of yet another big PGA Tour event, and the practice green at TPC Boston is filled with players honing their putting skills.
There are 10 players in all, and five of them are using belly or broom putters, including multiple-win notables such as Adam Scott, Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas. No surprises there, really.
But a few hours earlier, at the crack of dawn, many sleepy eyes popped wide open when Phil Mickelson, the second-winningest active player on tour, showed up with a belly model and used it in his pro-am round at the Deutsche Bank Championship.
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| 'Look, I don't mind trying new things,' Mickelson says. '... I don't mind trying something different.' (AP) |
"It's awkward to me," Mickelson said after his round. "But so many guys have had success with it that I thought I'd give it a try."
As he did earlier this year with Furyk, PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley last week gave Mickelson a few tips on the nuances of the belly model, which is anchored in a player's abdomen. Bradley three weeks ago became the third PGA Tour player in succession to win with a longer putter model, and the first to win a major.
It's fast become a huge talking point, and with Mickelson giving it a whirl, the purists are going to hit puree and spin in crazy circles, for sure.
After Bradley won and fading No. 1 Tiger Woods missed the cut, it was suggested that Woods ought to consider the belly as a remedy for his three years of middling results on the greens. His longtime foil beat him to it.
Mickelson and Bradley were paired in the first two rounds last week at The Barclays, shortly after Mickelson declared that he saw no reason to ban the controversial club. Now he's taking what Bradley taught him onto the golf course.
Mickelson used the belly on the front nine of his pro-am and switched back and forth on the back. Bradley is a rookie, mind you, and Mickelson has been winning on tour for 20 years.
"Yeah, it is funny," Mickelson said. "You can always learn, and [Bradley] putts it extremely well, and it rolls so nicely off the face, so I was asking him questions throughout the round last week when we were paired together about ball position, eye position, hands, grip, all that stuff to get it to swing a proper way. So I was able to kind of jump over a lot of the learning curve with it because of him."
Mickelson can surely use a lift. He has won one tournament since April 2010, and rarely has contended, with his short-range putting often rating as a consistent culprit. The whispers began about his putting a few weeks ago and heightened after the British Open, when he ruined the momentum of a front-nine 30 in the final round by missing a two-foot par putt on the 11th hole.
For the first time in his certain Hall of Fame career, the dreaded term yips was used.
Mickelson has always missed his share of shorties because he putts so aggressively, but this season, it has seemed more pronounced than ever. The guy is making a drastic change at age 41, so he's noticed, too. Mickelson said he expected to use the belly putter in the opening round Friday.
"Look, I don't mind trying new things," he said. "I've hit two drivers and no drivers in Opens, and I don't mind trying something different. We'll see."
Unlike in the past, it doesn't seem to be a publicity stunt designed to force the rule-makers into banning the belly. Mickelson added a controversial Ping wedge to his bag in early 2010 as the tour's new grooves rule took effect, at least in part to make a political statement about how he disagreed with the rule change in general.
In fact, when asked by CBSSports.com last week for his opinion on the belly and its growing popularity, Mickelson didn't hesitate in saying they shouldn't be banned, mostly because they have been around for so long, it would be unfair to the many players who have grown used to them. That list has only grown longer this season.
Mickelson was grasping at the club's nuances during the practice session Thursday morning, and every player who has made the move to a longer stick has endured at least a brief transitional period. Many have experimented, then abandoned, it. Some players, like former Players Championship winner Tim Clark, have never used anything but a longer putter. Clark uses the broom model, as does Scott, who turned his career around when he made the switch earlier this year.
"Because my hands aren't moving back, per se, because it's anchored, the stroke for distance is different," Mickelson said. "It's not like it's harder or easier, it's just different. So getting the right touch has been something I'm working on."
Somewhat amusingly, Mickelson wasn't sure of the length or specs of the putter. Last Saturday at The Barclays, he went to the equipment trailer and asked the technicians to build him a model like Bradley's. Mind you, Mickelson is one of the most tech-savvy players in the game.
"I just copied his," Mickelson said. "I went to Odyssey after the tournament Saturday night and asked the guy to make an exact replica, except for the insert."
The jokes started soon thereafter. We're not gonna say who it was, but when a player ranked in the world top 10 was informed Lefty had switched to a belly model, he fired back with a quick quip.
"And it's only an inch longer," he deadpanned.
Ziiiiinnnng.
If the belly model gives Mickelson the stomach to convert more of the short ones once again, it'll be worth whatever jokes and wisecracks they can offer.
