The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am usually isn’t a haven for equipment changing, but Phil Mickelson, Tommy Fleetwood and others made significant changes for the week. Though most were likely focused on the celebrities or the beautiful views of the Monterey Peninsula, we focused on the equipment scene. Here’s what we found.
Phil Mickelson earned his fifth AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title as play concluded Monday, adding to his impressive resume on Monterey Peninsula, where he also has two seconds and two thirds in 22 prior starts. As familiar as he is at Pebble Beach, with his grandfather being one of the original caddies at the legendary links, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that he went back to a familiar driver for this week, using the low-spinning Callaway Rogue Sub Zero he used most of last season. Lefty also added a new 3-wood for the week, putting Callaway’s new Epic Flash in play. During an opening-round 65 Mickelson hit 13 of 13 fairways off the tee, the first time since 1998 he hit every fairway during a round in a PGA Tour event, according to Shotlink. Also impressive is Phil's driving distance for the year—currently ranking fifth on tour at 316 yards. All particularly impressive stats considering Mickelson is now 48 years old.
Lucas Glover signed a one-year endorsement deal in January with Argolf to play its Arthur blade putter. At the time, it might have seemed an opportunity for Glover to pocket a little cash after finishing outside the top 100 in earnings in six of the past seven seasons. However, armed with his Argolf putter all of this season (even before the endorsement deal was official), Glover has played well in 2018-'19, playing his first 20 rounds in even par or better and posting five top-25 finishes, including a top-10 prior to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where he finished T-7. The Arthur is a blade-style, plumbers-neck putter with a half-shaft offset and designed to work for those with a slight arc in their stroke.
Tommy Fleetwood ended his time with his Nike VR Pro blade irons in Abu Dhabi, using TaylorMade’s P7 TW irons, but that’s not the only TaylorMade clubs in his bag. Fleetwood also is using the company’s M6 driver and GAPR Mid utility club. The GAPR Mid blends a driving iron and traditional hybrid with a neutral-weighted head bias, iron-like profile and medium-wide sole making it useful both off the tee and off the ground.
Srixon has touted its new line of irons and utility irons as being easy to use in a mixed set. Shane Lowry apparently took heed of that. At the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Lowry had a set that was right out of central casting for the company, using a Z U85 utility 3-iron, 4- and 5-irons in the cavity-back Z 585 model and the rest of his irons the more blade-like Z 785 for the rest of his set.