Lost in Rory/Sergio, Part II over the weekend at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational was the apparent ambivalence of one Jason Dufner.
According to Grantland’s Shane Ryan, Dufner actually gave away his Scotty Cameron putter on Saturday to a young fan mid-round. Ryan, after hearing the story a day later, tracked down Dufner, who frequently struggles from close range, to get confirmation:
“Jason,” I said, “I heard a story that you gave your putter away to a kid yesterday. I wanted to make sure it was true.”
“Yup.”
“Was that on no. 12?”
“Ten.”
I did the math — eight holes. Dufner had always been a bit rough on the greens, but I failed to see how this would help.
“What did you putt with?”
“3-wood.”
Dufner, for what it’s worth, played the final eight holes on Saturday 1 over, with a bogey on his first hole without a putter and then seven straight pars.
Out of 72 players, he finished in a tie for 66th at 14 over for the championship. He was 69th in putts per green (1.933) and 70th in strokes gained-putting (1.741).
Hopefully the kid has better luck with it than Dufner.