How A Mid-Championship Putter Change Helped Haeran Ryu To A Maiden Major Win
Ryu earned an historic Major victory at the KMPG Women's PGA Championship, with a putter change following the first round one of the key reasons for her win
After carding a one-over-par 73 on Thursday, you could be forgiven for believing that the KPMG Women's PGA Championship wouldn't be heading into the hands of Haeran Ryu.
Sitting 10 shots back of the lead after 18 holes, the South Korean had it all to do, with a change of putter proving to be the catalyst for her remaining 54-hole charge, which resulted in a maiden Major title for the 25-year-old.
On Thursday, Ryu had 34 putts using a TaylorMade 5K-ZT model, and opted to swap to a Scotty Cameron Phantom 11R OC, a putter that helped her to a runner-up finish at the Kroger Queen City Championship.
Speaking about the move following her eight-under round on Friday, the South Korean stated: "I changed my putter because I was sometimes missing a short putt (with) my old putter. That's why I try to change it; it's still bad.
"Today I used (the) same putter as Kroger Championship a month ago, so I felt it's so great and I can make a lot of birdies today."
Featuring a more compact head, that was the main reason for the swap by Ryu, who had used the Scotty Cameron intermittently since January of last year.
Ranking 141st for Strokes Gained: Putting on Thursday, losing 2.195 shots, Ryu did a complete 180 on Friday, gaining 4.445 shots on the greens and ranking first for SG: Putting.
On Saturday, Ryu was 14th in that category and 37th on Sunday, with her SG: Putting stats for the week ranking her 15th overall.
Certainly, the uptake in her putting goes against the grain of her LPGA Tour stats, where Ryu ranks 140th in Putts Per Hole, as well as 145th in SG: Putting, losing 1.22 shots on the greens.
