News

Matteson bags two TaylorMade SLDR Minis at Texas Open

Published

12 years ago

Mar 27, 2014

Troy Matteson carded a respectable even-par 72 in the opening-round of the Valero Texas Open today. The score positioned him in a tie for 31st at the time he finished. Of more interest to equipment junkies, however, is this bit of trivia: the Georgia Tech alum played the opening round with two TaylorMade SLDR MiniDrivers in his bag.

Of further interest: Matteson is using one of the two Minis (the 12-degree version) from the fairway. He has been using the other SLDR Mini, a 10.5-degree model, from the tee.

Certainly, it’s a curiosity when a PGA Tour professional elects to go with the dual driver setup, as Phil Mickelson did at the 2006 Masters. However, it’s perhaps more interesting when a player decides to use what is technically a driver as his fairway wood.

Reportedly Matteson feels the 10.5-degree driver affords him as much distance as his previous gamer. Today at least, that wasn’t the case. Matteson averaged just 282.5 yards off the tee, whereas he has been averaging around 295 for the season. However, he was significantly more accurate off the tee in his opening round than he has been thus far this season. Matteson found 64 percent of fairways today. His average hit percentage entering this tournament is just 52 percent. Further, he hit just 55 percent for the 2013 season.

Obviously, there is the danger of a small sample size here and comparing driving distances from week to week doesn’t tell the whole story. Further, given the wet conditions today, Matteson’s shorter driving distance isn’t surprising. It’s unlikely, too, that the lack of roll out is the sole cause of a 12 percent uptick in driving accuracy.

Thus, we’ll have to see what Matteson does for the rest of the week.

Regarding the 12 degree: The Rockledge, Florida native feels the club gets airborne as well as a traditional fairway wood. Presumably, it carries farther as well.

Given this fact, it will be interesting to see if more TaylorMade employ the services of the MiniDriver from the fairway.

Related Topics:TaylorMade

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Ben Alberstadt

Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

13 Comments

stacker

Mar 31, 2014 at 1:45 pm

I was on the range on Saturday. Its not a 430. That pic isnt right. Its the size of a true fairway

Reply Report comment
Jonathan

Mar 28, 2014 at 9:22 pm

Why has nobody pointed out the obvious here? Comparing the two heads in the picture, it’s clear that the 10.5 is much larger head than the 12 degree. The 10.5 is not a “mini-SLDR”. It’s believed to be the next series of drivers from TaylorMade called SLDR S-class. You can easily see it’s anywhere from 430 – 460cc. Let’s get more pics of that 10.5!!! That’s the real story here with this picture!

Reply Report comment
- Bob Gomavitz
  
  Mar 29, 2014 at 2:55 pm
  
  I think you pretty much nailed it….10.5 head has the sliding weight for sure and is bigger. The 12 seems smaller and not sure about the sliding weight. Notice how the horses were not shown….glue in I bet for both and I bet the SLDR-S series is grey with a glue in shafts
  
  Reply Report comment
- Chris
  
  Mar 29, 2014 at 3:42 pm
  
  His caddy is one of my best friends. I talked to him about this the night after this article was posted. The 10.5 is 275cc. He said that Troy was probably going to have the van build him one that’s between 8 and 9 degrees rather than stick with the 10.5.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Jon
  
  Mar 29, 2014 at 5:50 pm
  
  Not even close to 430-460cc. If you would take the time to look at some of the post on the SLDR mini you will see the 10.5* Mini (Version 3) is Tour Only version with a longer hosel made for bending and they are all 260cc’s regardless of the loft This is straight from Brian Bazzel. You can also get the same info off USGA.ORG under the conforming club list.
  
  Reply Report comment
- takeherdeep
  
  Mar 30, 2014 at 3:04 pm
  
  Surprised that no one has mentioned the fact that the way the picture is taken the 10.5* is a lot closer to the camera then the 12* so it will naturally look bigger…
  
  Reply Report comment
ND Hickman

Mar 28, 2014 at 8:25 am

It’ll be interesting to see if this leads to a reduction in driver head size across the industry.

Reply Report comment
Nick

Mar 28, 2014 at 1:47 am

I was skeptical of the SLDR Mini Driver concept until seeing it in person yesterday. If it performs half as good as it looks, the Mini will be a staple in my bag for years to come.

Reply Report comment
RG

Mar 27, 2014 at 10:23 pm

It’s not a 2 wood its a “Mini-Driver”, and these aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Like my buddy with a 30 degree 7 iron.

Reply Report comment
totebagger

Mar 27, 2014 at 6:12 pm

#takeitdeep

Reply Report comment
- Bogie
  
  Mar 27, 2014 at 7:51 pm
  
  That’s what she said.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - Dave
    
    Mar 27, 2014 at 8:39 pm
    
    Well played
    
    Reply Report comment
  - Scooter McGavin
    
    Mar 27, 2014 at 9:42 pm
    
    That’s what *he said.
    
    Reply Report comment

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May 13, 2026

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News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
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Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
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Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
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John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
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Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
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Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
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Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.