Molinari caps 2-shot win with 45-foot birdie putt

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Question: If you’re a putter, how do you work your way into the bag of world No. 1 golfer Jon Rahm? You win your tryout, that’s how. We jest, of course. Rahm said Friday after a second-round, 2-under 70 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational (28 putts) that there is very little difference between the gamer he had been using (Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S prototype) and the one that he is using now, which he switched to for the fourth round at The Genesis Invitational at Riviera two weeks ago. Rahm’s new putter – an Odyssey White Hot OG #7S – had a nice debut at Riviera, where Rahm made four birdies and an eagle in a final-round 65. At Bay Hill Club & Lodge, which he is playing for the first time, Rahm has made nine birdies over two rounds, but ranked outside the top 100 in Strokes Gained: Putting as of mid-day Friday. (A missed 10-inch putt Thursday didn’t help.) Over two rounds at Bay Hill, he had 60 putts and made 126 total feet of putts. His longest made putt on Friday was 11 feet, on the fourth hole. Rahm said the two putters are similar except for their appearance. The Rossie is a rounder mallet-type club, while the OG #7S has two protruding fangs. Choosing one came down to this: He stood 40 feet from the hole, devoted one putt to each putter, and said to himself, ‘Whichever one I make it with first, I’m going with.’” Hello, OG #7S. It has some work to do to make up ground, as the Rossie won him the 2021 U.S. Open. “When I chose to play the Rossie, which was the one I was playing up until this week, or the Sunday of L.A., I was right in between the two of them,” Rahm said. “I could have picked either/or when I did. Both of them felt great. So I knew (the OG #7S) was always a good backup.” Thus far in 2021-22, Rahm ranks first in Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee and second in Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green, but 88th in Strokes Gained: Putting. Part of that he chalks up to challenging greens on the West Coast. “It’s not necessarily that things are bad,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of putts graze the hole and not go in. It’s golf sometimes, especially on the West Coast. I’m not too concerned about it.” Rahm has a putting green downstairs at home in Arizona, and sometimes he’ll hit putts using both of the putters that have been in his bag of late. Sometimes a new look can spark something. “It’s essentially just to trick the mind, right?” Rahm said as he heads into the weekend. “The (putter) swing should be exactly the same, it just looks a little different. … There’s no difference between them.”

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