Equipment report: Truist sees Collin Morikawa's bag overhaul, Patrick Cantlay's rare putter swap, more

When asked about changing his gear setup for the Truist Championship after a wet and windy third round at Philadelphia Cricket Club, Keith Mitchell was quick to reply, “Rain gear and sweaters. That's it.”

Mitchell may have joked, but there were plenty of equipment storylines to follow during a busy week for the sixth Signature Event of the season.

Morikawa makes multiple changes

While the man carrying Collin Morikawa’s bag has changed, so have the clubs that he’s using. Morikawa tabbed Joe Greiner as his new bagman for the Truist Championship, but inside the bag was just as interesting. Morikawa made a plethora of changes for Philadelphia Cricket Club, which weren’t just limited to pre-tournament.

The first decision was sparked by a conversation with Greiner on their travels to the City of Brotherly Love. Morikawa, who sits 18th on TOUR for approaches from 200-225 yards (averaging around 38 feet for proximity), opted for a TaylorMade Qi35 9-wood over his usual TaylorMade P7CB or P770 4-iron.

“I never even thought about a 9-wood,” Morikawa said after the first round. “When we were flying here, I was just asking about 4-irons. It's kind of a club, not that I struggle with, but I want to find the perfect distance and launch, especially in certain conditions.”

While the new option was useful for the first two rounds, with the lofted fairway wood benefiting from the soft conditions, when higher winds swept across the course for the weekend, the 4-iron found its way back to the bag.

Adding to his changes was Morikawa’s decision to go back to his trusty TaylorMade TP Soto after experimenting with a mallet-style putter. Morikawa switched into the Spider Tour V at the previous Signature Event (RBC Heritage) but struggled on the greens, ranking 57th out of 72 players in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting. Morikawa admitted, though, that he still could use the Spider in the future.

“It's not over,” Morikawa said. “The last few days at home, I was putting, I went back to the blade and made a lot of putts and felt comfortable. So why not stick with that instead of kind of going out on the putting green and spending an hour or two trying to figure out, 'Do I use this, do I do that?'”

Morikawa also used his 2024 TaylorMade Qi10 LS driver for the Truist, over the Qi35 LS that he switched to. Interestingly, Morikawa has seen improvement for SG: Off-the-Tee this season (14th) with the Qi35 model, compared to his 2024 rank (19th).

It will be intriguing to see what setup Morikawa opts for at Quail Hollow, where he heads to the PGA Championship five years on from his first Wanamaker Trophy in 2021.

Cantlay combines putting past

Patrick Cantlay doesn’t change putters often; in fact, he doesn’t change clubs often. Despite switching into the new Titleist GT2 driver last year, his bag features a Titleist 915F 3-wood from 2014, Titleist 718 AP2 irons from 2017, and a Titleist TS2 fairway wood and Vokey SM7 wedges released in 2018

Cantlay had been rolling with a Scotty Cameron Phantom 5 Tour prototype featuring a double-bend neck since 2021, when he switched to the mallet putter during his FedExCup-winning season. At the time, it was a big change for Cantlay, who had been using a blade for most of his amateur and professional career.

At the Truist, though, despite staying in a mallet putter, Cantlay reverted to his blade-playing days, by moving into a Scotty Cameron Phantom 7.2, this time with a plumber’s neck.

“He (Cantlay) was looking for a familiar look to his old Scotty Cameron Newport 2 (a blade putter) and this was the perfect match,” said Drew Page, Tour rep for Scotty Cameron. “He was practicing with his blade, which prompted this.”

The Phantom 7.2 features longer wings than Cantlay’s previous Phantom 5, and the plumber’s neck helps the putter work like a blade with increased arc and toe release in the stroke. After taking a few rounds to get used to the new look, Cantlay finished the tournament, gaining over three strokes on the greens in the final round.

Lowry finds his fit… again

Shane Lowry has been showing some of the best form of his career, with 11 top 10s since the start of 2024 and a win alongside Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy. But throughout this year, he’s been searching for the right fit off the tee.

Earlier this season, Lowry admitted he wasn’t sure where he was at during his driver testing.

“I had about 15 drivers on the range on Tuesday here (Bay Hill), so no idea which one I ended up with," Lowry said jokingly during the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard.

At the Truist Championship, he was at it again. Michael Jolly, director of Tour operations for Srixon Golf, noted that the team found a crack in the driver Lowry was using at the time. So, it was back to the backups for Lowry. He continued with the Srixon ZXi at 9 degrees fitted with a Mitsubishi Diamana D+ White 70 TX to help lower the spin for Lowry off the tee. Hopefully, the Irishman can have better luck with the big stick going forward.

The new club almost started off in the best way possible, with Lowry falling just short in his attempt to win as an individual on TOUR for the first time since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, where The Open will return this summer.

Fowler emphasizes importance of fitting

Rickie Fowler notched his best finish on TOUR this year, with a T15 place finish at Philadelphia Cricket Club. The better play for the six-time TOUR winner, who earned his first victory at the Truist, may have resulted from a minor tweak to his irons to match an improved golf swing.

“We made a minor adjustment yesterday (Wednesday), put my irons a degree up,” Fowler shared after Round 1. “I felt like I was making good swings and zeroing things out, and the ball was just hanging a little right from what I wanted to see. So, it was good to kind of see things tighten up with irons today.”

Fowler added that because he feels he’s more upright through his swing than previously, the club face was “holding better, a little more square through the turf” after the adjustment. An important note for all to check the loft and lie angles of clubs regularly.

Busy week for Odyssey

Finally, those around the practice putting green at Philadelphia Cricket Club were in for a treat with Odyssey displaying the Giraffe-Beam putter for the first time on TOUR. Named due to its longer neck and copper color-scheme, the Giraffe-Beam putter style has only been available in Asian markets before being spotted in the U.S. at the Truist.

The longer plumber’s neck helps change the face-balancing, with the center point of the shaft moving closer to the middle of the putter face. The Giraffe-Beam looks to replicate the zero-torque nature of Odyssey's Square 2 Square putters, without a center shaft.

In a busy week for Odyssey, the company also launched its Ai-ONE Square 2 Square Max models to the public. With early adoption on TOUR during the Florida Swing, the Max and Max Stripe feature a similar head design to the L.A.B. Golf DF3 putter.

“This model is our most stable Square 2 Square putter,” said Luke Williams, senior director of Odyssey Golf. “It’s got MOI (moment of inertia) over 6300, so extremely high MOI, that high MOI coupled with the toe up balance and the zero torque characteristic of these putters make it just incredibly stable.”

The Square 2 Square lineup continues to see increased momentum on TOUR, with 13 in play in each of the last two Korn Ferry Tour events.