Tommy Fleetwood has made an gear change regardless of a comparatively profitable yr up to now.
He started his 2024 season with a victory on the Dubai Invitational, because of Rory McIlroy’s watery demise on the 18th gap. However the Englishman didn’t file one other win after that, preserving his winless PGA Tour drought alive and properly.
He missed solely two cuts all yr, at Bay Hill and Royal Troon, and posted his best-ever end at Augusta Nationwide, tying for third. He additionally gained the silver medal on the Olympics. It was a profitable yr by all accounts, which prolonged to his three most up-to-date begins on the DP World Tour, all top-12 finishes or higher.
But, Fleetwood arrives in Abu Dhabi this week with a brand new putter. He has spent the previous month at dwelling testing new TaylorMade prototypes, and he’s excited to make use of a brand new one this week within the first occasion of the DP World Tour playoffs. Possibly it would pay dividends and provides him one other win quickly. In spite of everything, Fleetwood’s placing statistics regressed significantly in 2024 in comparison with 2023.
Contemplate this: in 2023, the yr Fleetwood clinched the successful level within the Ryder Cup, the Englishman ranked 14th on tour in strokes gained placing. Extra impressively, he ranked first on the PGA Tour in one-putt proportion, needing only one stroke 44.4% of the time. He additionally ranked sixth in putts per spherical and twentieth in birdie conversion proportion. When Fleetwood caught his method close to the opening, he normally transformed. No surprise why he made 15-of-28 cuts and posted eight top-10s on the PGA Tour in 2023—twice as many as this yr.
In 2024, Fleetwood’s birdie conversion proportion dropped by greater than 4 factors—from 33.64% to 29.22%—plummetting him from twentieth right down to 151st in that metric. He additionally noticed exceptional drops in strokes gained placing, putts per spherical, and one-putt proportion. Not all hope was misplaced, nonetheless. Fleetwood ranks 18th on tour in holing putts from inside 10 ft, doing so practically 90% of the time. However his different placing stats pale compared to his earlier seasons.
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He wanted to alter one thing, so he felt obligated to experiment this week—an ideal time to take action, provided that we’re not in probably the most strenuous a part of the PGA Tour season.
“I really like testing my gear and testing issues which are new and totally different, but it surely’s so troublesome with the best way the schedule is. The tournaments are packed in so shut to one another, and there’s by no means not a giant occasion or not an vital occasion, it appears,” Fleetwood stated Wednesday.
“Trying ahead to going on the market [on Thursday] and getting it into competitors as a result of that’s the one factor I haven’t finished but, in order that’s thrilling.”
Whereas on the placing inexperienced on Wednesday. Fleetwood chatted with former European Tour stalwarts Ken Brown and David Howell, who each work in broadcasting these days.
“We have now had some nice conversations about placing through the years, and I simply all the time like seeing the fellows and speaking concerning the sport. It’s simply good being round people who find themselves nonetheless so passionate concerning the sport,” Fleetwood added.
“We had been speaking about my placing and a few issues, and [they are] two nice putters, two of one of the best putters I’ve ever met. So that you’re all choosing issues up and all the time studying.”
Possibly Fleetwood will take after Scottie Scheffler, who switched from a blade to a mallet putter forward of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Scheffler went on to win eight occasions in 2024, together with The Masters and the Olympics; he’ll win the Participant of the 12 months Award once more, too. Humorous sufficient, McIlroy, whereas showing on the printed in the course of the Genesis Invitational in February, urged the World No. 1 ought to swap to a mallet. Scheffler struggled on the greens in January and February, rating in the direction of the underside within the discipline practically each week. The mallet then turned the tide in the direction of Scheffler as he went on to have a historic yr.
As for Fleetwood, no one is aware of how this transfer will repay this week, subsequent week in Dubai, or past. However generally, skilled golfers have to make minor adjustments to enhance the smallest elements of their sport, and people strikes typically repay. In the event that they achieve this for Fleetwood, be careful for him in 2025. He’s due on the PGA Tour, in spite of everything.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. Make sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.