Connect with us

19th Hole

Danielle Kang explains the extraordinary process behind her new Scotty Cameron putter

Published

on

Danielle Kang had a brilliant time on the greens in Singapore on Friday, and promptly thanked legendary putter designer Scotty Cameron for his part.

After taking just 25 putts during her second-round nine-under 63, the six-time LPGA winner had no qualms in revealing just how the one-off flat stick developed from an idea into reality.

“It was really cool,” Kang explained, “because I had an idea…Mr. Scotty Cameron sketched it out, and then, all of a sudden, my thoughts became real. He molded them, and then we spent hours, and I think it took days for him to make these molds.”

The 2017 Women’s PGA Champion told reporters she was involved in the actual making process too.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Danielle Kang (@daniellekang)

“And then I was with him for seven hours straight, grinding them, making it, buffering, lie lofting. It was incredible for me to watch. And I absolutely love that putter. And people keep asking me what it is, and he stamped it ‘DK Special’ on the bottom, so that’s the name of it.”

The name “Scotty Cameron” is synonymous with some of the most valuable clubs ever sold at auction.

15-time major winner, and golf legend Tiger Woods, is among many that are regular “Scotty” users, and recently one of his back-up Red Dot Scotty Cameron putters sold for over $325,000!

As for Kang, winner of the 2022 Tournament of Champions by three strokes from the subsequent champ Brooke Henderson, the last couple of seasons have not gone entirely to plan.

After coaching and caddie changes, she also had to fight off criticism for withdrawing from the Palos Verdes Championship. Kang later revealed the pain in her back to be a tumor on her spine.

Despite the recovery period, the victory plus six top-10 finishes were enough to see her finish in 14th place on the 2022 Race To The CME Globe, and this year has started steadily, if not spectacularly, with a run of 12/24/38 in her first three events.

The week at the HSBC Women’s World Championship should help though, with stats showing Kang missing just five fairways from 56, and making 58 from 72 greens.

Crucially, she backed up the second-round putting display with another on payday, having just 27 putts during a final round of 68, at least one less than the three that finished in front her – Jin Young Ko, Nellie Korda and Ayaka Furue.

Now in the top-10 for the season-long table, Kang knows where some of the credit should be laid: “My putter has been really hot for a while, so thank you, Mr. Scotty. It’s working.”

More from the 19th Hole

19th Hole

‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

Published

on

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.

However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.

Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.

Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”

Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.

Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.

Continue Reading

19th Hole

How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Published

on

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.

Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.

Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.

Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.

Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.

“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course.  Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”

According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.

“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”

Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.

Check out Young’s winning WITB here.

Continue Reading

19th Hole

Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Published

on

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.

Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.

Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.

The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.

Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”

“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”

Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.

However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.

“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”

Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending