ATLANTA – Long putters are taking over the game, or so the hyperbole would have you believe, and that truth has never been more obvious than at this week’s Tour Championship.
Six of the 30 players on hand for the finale are using either a belly or broom-handle putter (although Matt Kuchar does not anchor his longer-than-standard length putter). That’s 20 percent, for those keeping track, a number higher than the Tour norm but not by much.
It’s a reality that many Tour types are coming to grips with, however reluctantly.
“The next thing you’re going to see are junior sets being sold in pro shops with long putters, which is kind of disappointing,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “It’s feasible, if the rules stay the way they are, that everyone will be using one.”