Cameron Young And Tommy Fleetwood Among Notable Names To Make Significant Equipment Changes At Tour Championship
Both Young and Fleetwood swapped their putters prior to the season finale at East Lake, as Min Woo Lee also changed the shafts of his irons pre-tournament
Equipment changes aren't a new thing on the professional circuits but, given the Tour Championship has a $40 million tournament purse, you'd think the world's best would keep with their most traditional set-ups.
However, for at least three players in the field at East Lake, notable and significant changes have occurred as players battle it out for the $10 million first prize.
Cameron Young found himself dead last after the first round but, on Friday, the American carded an eight-under-par 62 to move into a share of fourth.
Throughout 2026, Young has been flying on the greens with a Scotty Cameron Phantom 9.5R Tour Prototype but, in Atlanta, Georgia, he appears to have moved to a Phantom 10.5 Xperimental.
Details on the flat stick are slim, but the new putter has an aluminum face and a full length alignment line on the crown.
Reportedly, he trialed the putter earlier in the season before moving back to the 9.5R. At East Lake, though, the Phantom 10.5 has worked well, as he ranks third in Strokes Gained: Putting after two rounds, leading the statistic on Friday, gaining 3.5 shots on the field.
Young wasn't the only big name changing the putter at the Tour Championship, as Tommy Fleetwood also introduced a new flat stick to his set-up before the event teed off.
Having used a TaylorMade Spider Tour and Tour X, the latter helped him claim the Tour Championship last year, with the putter standing out because of the hand-drawn Sharpie lines that feature on the crown.
This week, the Englishman has a new TaylorMade Spider Tour V in play, which also features the lines on the crown, but this time they have been lasered on and not drawn on.
Firing a four-under-par first round, he ranked sixth in SG: Putting, but a level-par second round ended with Fleetwood 18th in that category, putting him 16th overall.
Away from the greens, Min Woo Lee opted to change his iron shafts, with the risk paying off after he led the first round via an eight-under-par 62.
Although he carded a three-over-par 73 on Friday, he's five back of leaders Ryan Gerard and Viktor Hovland going into the weekend.
Speaking after his first round, Lee explained the change in iron shaft, stating: "It's a heavier shaft, and coach back home said 'why are you swinging it so fast?' It didn't look like that, but yeah, sure enough, I was swinging it pretty fast. Slowed it down a little bit, and the ball actually came out nice.
"I just trust my rep, and I just -- it was actually just a blind test really. There was three shafts that he took off the stickers on, and I just hit some shots. One was really nice, and it was that one.
"Again, it was very hesitant and very reactive on the last two weeks on why I wanted to change it, but it was a good gamble."
