Collin Morikawa Makes Mid-Masters Putter Switch... And It's Paying Off

Collin Morikawa was seen using a TaylorMade Spider X mallet putter during round one of The Masters but the "tried and true blade guy" went back to his usual style of putter for Friday - and he's been climbing the leaderboard ever since.

While World No.1 Scheffler has found huge success since moving to the Spider X, from a blade, during the week of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Morikawa has gone the other way.

He returned to a TaylorMade TP Soto blade on Friday after also using an Olson prototype blade last month - a brand of flat sticks made by engineer Logan Olson.

"I came into this week not putting well or not feeling comfortable with the putter that I had in my hands," Morikawa said.

"Went full 180, switched to the mallet, switched to the Spider, and was feeling great, to be honest. I felt really, really good. Felt better than I've kind of felt all year.

"But sometimes you don't know how it's going to feel in the tournament. Through (the opening round, which extended into Friday morning) ... I just wanted to get the putter out of my hands because I couldn't get comfortable with it. 

"And thankfully I had a backup ... a copy of what I've putted with in the past, pretty much the past year and a half. Felt like old times and nice to have that in the bag again."

Scheffler briefly used an Olson blade around the turn of the year and the women's World No.1 Nelly Korda also has one in the bag.

Morikawa averaged 1.67 putts per GIR in his opening 71 on Thursday with the Spider X mallet but that was down to 1.5 on Friday where he shot 70 in high winds at Augusta National.

He opened with three consecutive birdies on Saturday to continue his climb up the leaderboard and eventually got himself into the final group, starting Sunday one back of Scheffler.

The two-time Major champion is seeking the third leg of the career grand slam this week, although his last three starts read MC-T45-T75.

The 27-year-old Californian won his sixth PGA Tour title in Japan last October.

"I've been grinding and had to find something in a swing thought to work this week, and we found something early on Monday, and we're just kind of sticking with that," Morikawa revealed this week.

"It's still not perfect, but perfect doesn't have to be out there. I'm able to play good golf and plot my way around this golf course. Especially with the wind out here, you had to just kind of really stay patient out there."