Style Insider: ECCO Golf increases its cool factor

It's been more than five years since we have seen Rickie Fowler putt with anything other than his trusted Tri-Sole Newport 2 Scotty Cameron. The shafts have changed a bit from traditional steel to a beefed-up LAGP graphite model, but that's it: same design for half a decade. It's easy to understand the loyalty. Regarded as one of the best putters on TOUR for some time, it's typically not a part of his game that requires any drastic changes. The stats don't lie: Over the past five seasons, Fowler's Strokes Gained: Putting rank has ranged anywhere from a respectable 64th all the way to first in 2017. However, this week at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin, Fowler has put a putter in play that is not only a new look but a totally different profile. In simple terms, it's like going from a razor blade to a chainsaw. The new putter is a face-balanced Scotty Cameron X5 Prototype with a single bend shaft. The idea behind this model is face stability. Fowler has always preferred a traditional "Anser 2" profile to promote releasing the toe of the putter, much like Tiger Woods. The switch is showing early returns as well. Despite a double-bogey on the par-3 17th, Fowler finished Round 1 ranked first in SG: Putting en route to a 67 that included seven birdies. In the current case, the X5 profile gives Fowler a putter with a much higher MOI that reduces twisting and stabilizes the face. In addition, it helps with a new look for alignment. It's not abnormal these days for players to just want to look at something new—Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and even last week's winner Sergio Garcia have gone back and forth from Anser-style putters and mallets on numerous occasions one the season. Is he changing his stroke? Probably not. However, Augusta is right around the corner and players like Fowler will need to optimize what they do well if they are going to keep up with what one Bryson Dechambeau is setting out to do to the Georgia track. Specs: Scotty Cameron X5 Prototype 35 inches 70-degree lie 3-degree loft D7 swing weight 335-340 gram head weight

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Players winner Kim (back) out of Byron Nelson

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When Tom Hoge stood on the 72nd hole of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this season, about to claim his first career PGA TOUR title, there was, no doubt, a lot running through his mind. Not only had victory eluded the North Dakota native in 202 previous TOUR starts, but he was about to clench a two-stroke victory over former World No. 1 and 2017 tournament winner, Jordan Spieth. Not only did the dragon slayer take down one of the game’s grittiest competitors, but at the same time, he was helping build up the hope and resolve of some of Texas’ children in need. Enter the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge. To further its mission of growing and strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion work, the PGA TOUR developed the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge – a unique, season-long fantasy competition beginning this season to work toward the TOUR’s minimum commitment of $100 million for DE&I priorities over a 10-year span. For each TOUR event from the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January through the BMW Championship in August, Host Organizations across the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions and Korn Ferry Tour have the opportunity to generate charitable donations. Larger amounts are provided to the designated charities of the winner and top finishers at season’s end. Each participating charity receives $5,000 just for being selected. To date, 89 teams have selected a local charity and drafted its fantasy team of eight TOUR players. Each week, the number of FedExCup points that each tournament’s eight-player roster earns is totaled. The team with the highest total wins the week and earns a $5,000 contribution to its charitable beneficiary. In addition to a weekly winning team, points are cumulative throughout the season. The team with the most points after the BMW Championship nets the top prize of $100,000 for its charitable partner. So far this season, the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge has provided over $500,000 through the program to charities serving DE&I causes nationwide, with more than half of the selected charities being new community partnerships. That’s where the Charles Schwab Challenge comes in. The Charles Schwab Challenge selected HOPE Farm as its beneficiary for the 2022 PGA TOUR Charity Challenge. HOPE Farm is a long-term leadership program in Fort Worth for at-risk boys without fathers. “We decided with the PGA TOUR that the Charles Schwab Challenge was going to make HOPE Farm our charity to support,” said Charles Schwab Challenge Executive Director, Michael Tothe. “Just by signing them up, we were able to give them $5,000. I then texted Tom Hoge, who now lives in Fort Worth, just asking him how much he planned to play this season. He said he was going to play as much or more than anyone else on TOUR. So, we picked Tom as one of our fantasy players.” In addition to the enlisting gift of $5,000, because of Hoge’s 500-point FedExCup victory at Pebble Beach, the Charles Schwab Challenge won another $5,000, bringing the donation amount at a Tuesday presentation on site at Colonial Country Club to $10,000. “It’s all great because it benefits all the communities we play in,” said Tom Hoge. “Now that I live in Fort Worth, I have a personal vested interest in going out and playing well. It’s made it even more motivating to know that, just by me playing well in an event anywhere on the schedule, I can help make a direct and positive impact right here in Fort Worth.” “To have these kids from the underprivileged communities out here and experience what the tournament is about is a remarkable thing,” said Victor Neil, VP, Marketing and Development, HOPE Farm. “To be honored on the national level through the PGA TOUR just tells these kids how important their future is to us. We so very much appreciate this.” HOPE Farm brings in young men, beginning at the age of five, and tries to keep working with them through their high school graduation. “We are Christ-centered, and we have a big reading program to make sure literacy rates are up,” said Neil. “We also feed them every day. A lot of these kids don’t know that they’re going to get dinner at home, so we feed them at HOPE Farm. That way, when mom comes to get them at 7 p.m., all they’ve got to do is shower up and go to bed.” A multi-layered initiative, the PGA TOUR Charity Challenge is designed to strengthen TOUR and tournament-led partnerships, highlight year-round contributions and successes in markets and communities, and showcase the relationships between Host Organizations and DEI-focused charities in their markets. The Charles Schwab Challenge team currently ranks 18th out of 89 participating tournaments. “I can’t imagine that many – if any – of these kids have ever been out here to Colonial and probably don’t know anything about golf,” said Neil. “But, for them to see and meet a guy like Tom Hoge, who is contributing and actually knows who they are is huge. “It’s not only huge for the kids, but it’s huge for the game of golf, too.”

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