Power Rankings: John Deere Classic

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His 18-foot, curling left-to-righter breaks toward the hole, eyes locked on its path, Jon Rahm raises his Odyssey Rossie S putter and unleashes jubilant fist pump as his ball dives into the darkness. We’ve seen the highlight how many times in the handful of days that have passed since that putt clinched Rahm’s U.S. Open victory? It’s hard to imagine after seeing the confidence and firm conviction the ball would roll inevitably into the hole Rahm displayed on Torrey Pines’ 17th and 18th greens, Sunday, that the world No. 1 only switched into the flatstick the tournament prior to the U.S. Open. It’s surprising, too, that the mid-mallet model he settled on was a significant departure from the gigantic rear-center of gravity, high MOI mallet he had been using for months. So, how did we get here? How did Rahmbo look more like 2008 Sunday Tiger Woods on the 72nd at Torrey Pines and less like a golfer who was so frustrated with his putting he went back to the drawing board less than a month ago? The week prior to the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, Rahm visited with Callaway head of tour operations Tim Reed and Odyssey rep Joe Toulon at the Ely Callaway Performance Center in Carlsbad, California, to test putters. There, Rahm was most intrigued by an Odyssey Rossie S mid-mallet putter. He remained happy with the Microhinge Star insert that had been, well, inserted into his 2-Ball Ten at the PGA Championship, so Toulon and company had the Rossie built with the Microhinge. After evaluation on SAM PuttLab and Quintic (two putting analysis systems), it was clear the Rossie performed better than the higher-MOI, rear-CG 2-Ball Ten he had been putting with since joining Callaway’s tour staff in January. And as evidenced by his barnstorming three rounds at the Memorial Tournament and his clutch putt-filled win at the U.S. Open, the Spaniard’s putting performance was indeed elevated. For the inside story of Rahm’s Rossie S, GolfWRX spoke with Odyssey tour rep Joe Toulon. GolfWRX: When Rahm signed with Callaway, he was using a putter that looked very much like the Odyssey 2-Ball Ten he ultimately put in the bag. It intuitively made sense that’d be his choice, but he switched to a different putter at the Memorial. Why? Joe Toulon: When he came into our putter studio in January, he hadn’t really been putting great. He was anxious to get into something. We had, probably, 20 putters made up for him, and the whole time, we were thinking the 2-Ball Ten with the S-neck would be the winner because it was similar to what he was using coming in. But through that process, you have to listen to what the player is saying and how they’re saying it. He was struggling with setup and how his putter sat on the ground…and he found himself fidgeting. In his college days, he used a 2-Ball. So the 2-Ball Ten, the way it sat on the ground for him was the reason he gravitated toward that. He felt comfortable with it…and with his path, he squared it up a little bit more and hit more putts in the center of the face. The last thing we did with that putter was change to a White Hot insert. He’s such a feel player, and he told us that White Hot felt good at impact. So that’s what he switched to at the Farmers Insurance Open and used through the PGA Championship. GolfWRX: And then he made a minor modification at the PGA Championship… JT: So, we follow player stats very, very closely. We talk to players, caddies, and agents. We always want to see what the feel is with the putter (and every club, really). His putting didn’t really change much from the beginning of the year, over time, he just grew frustrated as he expected he’d start making those 8-12 footers. He never really had a hot week with it [the Odyssey 2-Ball Ten putter]. He was always right around zero strokes gained: putting for the week. So, looking at his stats, we thought if the putter could just get relatively hot, he was doing everything else great. We had a meeting before the PGA Championship with Jon, his caddie, and a couple of other people, and we wanted to dive deep into the stats and what he was feeling out on the course and what his caddie was seeing. We started hearing him say his speed had been a little bit off, so we made an insert change in his 2-Ball Ten [White Hot to Microhinge Star]. We didn’t want to change the whole putter because it was the week of the PGA Championship. We were pretty excited about what we were seeing, but then after his round Saturday, he told us it would be his last round using the putter. GolfWRX: Wow. Back to the drawing board then! What direction do you go from there? JT: The Rossie was one of the putters I had made for him back in January, and I could just tell, watching him look at all the putters and listing to his initial thoughts, it was all positive with that one, and he kept kind of looking back at it, so that was something I built up for him along with a couple of others. We kind of pieced everything together knowing that he’s not a very linear person; he doesn’t like lines on his putter, and we knew he liked the insert. He liked the speed off the face, the feel, and the roll, so we knew we were going to go with that insert. And we wanted to go back to something with an S-neck so he could feel the face rotate. The 2-Ball Ten, where the center of gravity is in that putter is further back. Over time, we started to get the sense that wasn’t working well with him wanting to feel the face rotate. And over time, that kind of altered his stroke a little bit to the point where he didn’t look comfortable over the ball. So, we wanted to give him something with the CG a little more forward. He came into the test center Thursday and Friday (of the Charles Schwab Challenge) to look at putters and dial in the right one, but Thursday when he came, he was in love with the Rossie and we got him on Quintic and PuttLab and made sure the numbers were good. At that point, we may have made a slight loft adjustment to help launch angle, but that was it. It was pretty amazing just to see how confident and comfortable he looked with that putter in his hands. He was a completely different person on the greens. GolfWRX: So clearly a different putter and better performance, but why/how was it working better for him? JT: Basically, he was just feeling the face a little bit more, which made him more attuned to face angle and how it was rotating in his stroke. He was feeling like a more “natural” putter again. Jon Rahm putter specs Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S Insert: Micro Hinge Star Shaft: Steel stepped Grip: Odyssey 56 pistol Length: 37 inches Loft: 2.5 degrees Lie: 68-degrees Weight: 544 grams

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MAMARONECK, N.Y. - The phone was in the bag. He put it there before the round, and by golly, it was going to stay there. Instead of snapping a photo, caddie Todd Thompson looked at the leaderboard and burned it into his memory. Davis Thompson, his 21-year-old son, was at 4-under-par and leading the 120th U.S. Open. "It was cool to see his name up there," said Todd, who in his day job is the tournament director for The RSM Classic, the PGA TOUR's regular stop in St. Simons Island, Georgia. PGA TOUR UNIVERSITY: Get to know Davis Thompson Cool? Well, OK, that's an understatement, but then Todd and his son are understated guys. Thompson bogeyed three of the last six holes for a 1-under 69 at Winged Foot, just four back of early leader Justin Thomas, while playing partners Harris English and Brendon Todd each shot 68. The all-Georgia group were the only threesome to all shoot under par in the morning wave. Familiarity helped. English, who like Thompson lives in Sea Island, Georgia, played a practice round with the kid at Ocean Forest last week as part of their preparation for Winged Foot. The kid won. Todd, who lives in Athens, Georgia, sometimes plays with Thompson when they're in town, and calls the younger player remarkably poised for his age. Thompson called it, "a comfortable pairing." He is the fourth-ranked player in PGA TOUR U, a new program that sends the top collegiate players to the Korn Ferry Tour to begin their professional careers, and the fourth-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, earning his U.S. Open start. But he still looks as guileless as the paperboy, and his nerves needed soothing, at least early in the week. "Yeah, the first guy I think I saw was Rory," he said. "That was pretty cool. Growing up, I was around - I was growing up and getting really serious about golf when he was winning all of his majors. So I kind of looked up to him. I’m just very thankful to be here." He showed no signs of nerves with birdies on holes 6, 7 and 8, sending shock waves far and wide. On the other coast, Todd Thompson's boss Davis Love III was in Pebble Beach for the PURE Insurance Championship on PGA TOUR Champions, and cheering through his TV. "I woke up and my phone was blowing up," said Love, the 21-time TOUR winner who won the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot. "The whole island is excited for Davis." So was Chris Haack, who is going into his 25th year as coach of the Georgia men's golf team. "When he was 2 under I was not surprised," Haack said. "When he went to 3 under, I thought, Awesome! When he went 4 under, I thought, Oh, my God, this is great. He's a momentum player. He's not flashy, not very talkative. I just love the work ethic. I've had a lot of really good players, and he works as hard or harder than anybody I've ever had." And as for Thompson? What did he make of being 4 under? "Just keep everything physical, not emotional," he said. "Just stay through my routines and just keep doing what I’m doing. Just take it one quality shot at a time, one hole at a time, and not thinking about the future or 18, but staying in the moment." Yep. Understated. He is not, by the way, named for Davis Love III. Todd Thompson and wife Leigh just liked the name. Their son grew up playing golf and basketball in Auburn, Alabama. When he was 12, Todd turned the golf instruction over to Eric Eshleman, Director of Golf at the Country Club of Birmingham, to avoid mixing up the father-son relationship. Davis Thompson helped lead Lee Scott Academy to six state titles, including individual titles in 2013 and 2015. He was an All-America at Georgia as a junior, and finished T23 as an amateur at The RSM Classic. Today, his legend extends all the way from Auburn to Sea Island. The most famous story might be Keith Mitchell, also a Georgia alum and the winner of The Honda Classic last year, making seven birdies in a match against Thompson - and losing 4 and 3. "He's unbelievably good," Mitchell told the PGA TOUR. English and Todd concur. "He’s just been very disciplined since day one," Todd said. "He doesn’t party. He practices efficiently. He has a very easy-going temperament, doesn’t seem to get too mad." Thompson hit what appeared to be a good tee shot at the par-3 13th hole Thursday, but the ball went too far and he made bogey. Todd got in his ear as they walked to the 14th tee, saying they were all fooled by the wind gust, that he'd hit a good shot, that he should keep his head up. Todd Thompson, who also played for Georgia, tried to qualify for the U.S. Open a handful of times, but never made it. So being on his son's bag has worked nicely on a few levels. "With the rules here for COVID and everything, it was the only way I could get here," he said. "My wife's not happy she's not here, because she would have loved to watch." Love III sees in Davis Thompson a player who will have absolutely no trouble making the transition from college to the PGA TOUR, when the time comes. "He knows how to play golf," Love said. "... I'm impressed with his demeanor; he's very even, doesn't get upset. It's perfect for a U.S. Open, perfect for pressure." Perfect for the TOUR, too, but there's no hurry. Davis Thompson is taking it one shot at a time.

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