The second stop in Texas is the final chance for players to test out and dial in equipment before the Masters. While many in the field are still chasing that final spot in the field for the Masters, a few big hitters were making moves ahead of the first major of the year.

Check out the Tour Report from the 2026 Valero Texas Open.

Austin Eckroat’s DIY welded putter rails

Think Baffler, but on a putter. That’s what Austin Eckroat is doing at the Valero. It’s one of the weirder things that we’ve seen on Tour. But, there’s a method behind the madness.

His custom Ping PLD Anser 2 features two custom-welded rails on the sole of the putter, raising about a golf ball’s width of the center point of the face off the ground. It’s all an attempt to help the putter stay stable on the greens, while also helping him establish the same handle placement for each putt.

“I wanted the club to sit on two points, especially our greens get baked out here,” Eckroat said. “If you ever put it on Bermuda greens and you go down to pick up your ball and the putter slides out from underneath you, the same thing happens when I’m over the ball. I set into it with one hand, so I set in with one hand, and I’d look at the hole and come down, and the club face is closed or whatever. So that was the first idea with it, was to get the putter just sit still and the two balance points really helps there.”

Check out the full interview with Eckroat and more details about potential secondary designs that might be coming to his bag.

What’s in Rickie’s bag?

Our Tour photographer, Greg Moore, got a full look inside Rickie Fowler’s bag, and it’s had a big influence on last week’s winner, Gary Woodland.

Two clubs feature in Fowler’s bag that Woodland has taken onboard. Firstly, the incredibly offset Cleveland RTZ Tour Rack lob wedge and then his custom Scotty Cameron center-shafted GoLo putter.

Interestingly, in Fowler’s setup at the Valero, he’s back in his TaylorMade BRNR Copper Mini Driver equipped with a Diamana WB 73 TX, instead of the KING TEC mini that he started the season in, that he played a UST Mamiya LIN-Q PowerCore Blue 7TX proto.

Check out his full bag here.

Tommy Fleetwood’s cosmetics changes

New hat, new shoes, new putter? World No. 4 Tommy Fleetwood arrived at TPC San Antonio donning a new Blackstone sponsor logo on his cap and a fresh pair of Sun Day Red kicks, instead of his personal favorite Nike TW13s. While all that was surprising to see, what may have been missed was the cosmetic update he made to his trusty TaylorMade Spider Tour X putter.

Gone are the custom Sharpie lines, hand-drawn by TaylorMade Putter Rep James Holley last year at the RBC Heritage, when Fleetwood first switched into the model, and they’ve been replaced with two parallel milled lines and a dot.

“I haven’t played how I wanted to and sometimes it’s nothing more into it than you just need something different to look at, like a slightly different visual or something, just to change up your mindset a little bit,” Fleetwood said prior to the start of the Valero Texas Open.

The Englishman was also spotted rolling a few putts on the green with the TaylorMade Tour F, which we had seen in the bag of Pierceson Coody just a few weeks ago.

Check out why Fleetwood was testing the proto putter here, and his fill bag for Valero here.

Are you ready for Augusta?

The gates are nearly open as golf readies for a trip down Magnolia Lane. To get ready for the first major of the year, check out Mitsubishi Golf Shafts custom Diamana Masters edition.

The shaft features a glossy Masters green color scheme with pink, yellow and white Azalea flowers, a prominent feature at Augusta National, as well as hands stamped in a praying position synonymous with Amen Corner. The shaft comes in the Blue Board profile at 63 X.

Quick hits

Billy Horschel returned to his bronzed Ping PLD Anser putter. It’s his third putter of the season after using a Ping Scottsdale Tec Ally Blue H and his Ping Sigma 2 Tyne 4. Robert MacIntyre, Bud Cauley, J.T. Poston and Matt Kuchar were among 15 players that moved into the new Titleist GTS driver, with 34 in total in play. More on Matsuyama. He’s back in his Graphite Design Tour AD DI driver shaft after playing the FI, DI Black and the standard DI all during The Players Championship. Odyssey dropped an Ai-Dual 2-Ball Proto for us to take a look at. All the images here.

Club of the week

You asked, we delivered. Take a look at Keith Mitchell’s Odyssey EXO 2-ball. Made with rose gold PVD, Mitchell’s version features a custom ProX insert for a slightly firmer feel made for Tour only.

More photos here.

For more, check out this week’s episode of Inside the Ropes.