Scottie Scheffler has changed his putter ahead of this week's CJ Cup at Congaree Golf Club as he seeks his first PGA Tour win since the Masters.
The World No.1 can be overtaken by Rory McIlroy in the Official World Golf Ranking this week if the Northern Irishman wins the event, and he finishes worse than a two-way tie for second. If Scheffler finishes outside the top 35, the 33-year-old can also reach the summit if he secures second place outright.
The American was asked what his new putter was and how often he changed, saying: “I typically don't like changing equipment at all, but I've been using it now for probably two, three weeks. Late in the year I putted what felt like to me pretty poorly, I was really streaky. I was trying a few different things and that's not really a way to improve when you're kind of, felt like I was kind of blindly throwing darts just trying to find something. Sometimes I was lining the ball up, sometimes I wasn't.
“I grabbed this putter that I had at home that I tested a while ago. I set it up and I was like, man, this thing's really easy to line up, I don't feel I really have to work a lot to line the ball up correctly,”
Scheffler went on to explain that the last time he putted well throughout a tournament was his maiden Major victory. “The last tournament where I felt like for four days I putted well was probably the Masters,” he said.
His inconsistent streak on the greens, especially during the recent Presidents Cup, where “he couldn’t get comfortable over the ball” led him to ask Steve Stricker for advice.
“It was very helpful kind of picking his [Steve Stricker's] brain and just kind of learning from him.”
Stricker, winner of 12 PGA Tour events during his career, was one of the finest putters on tour and Scheffler will be hoping that any little nuggets of information gained from the 55-year-old can propel him to his fifth win this year.
