Precision putting seemed to be the key to being on the leaderboard at the FBR Open.
Winner Aaron Baddeley averaged 26.0 putts per round and had 1.577 putts per green in regulation at the event. He attributed some of the improvement to something that many business travelers and casual amateurs can relate to -- putting practice in his hotel room.
"I've been struggling with my putting and the last couple weeks I had off I've been working on my putting," he said. "Last week I went to a wedding. I was best man at my best mate's wedding, and I took my putter with me and was putting in the hotel room because I wanted to work hard on it."
Baddeley has stuck with a Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport putter through his two PGA Tour wins -- at Phoenix and last year at the Verizon Heritage at Harbour Town.
BETTER DRIVING: Charles Howell III has been spending a lot of time with the folks at Callaway. He also put the company's FT-5 driver into play this year.
"For me that was a great switch because it's a bigger head, a little more stable and I hit it a little straighter," Howell said. "I'm going to them saying, okay, guys, these are things I'm trying to work on, although I understand that you are equipment, it's sort of the Indian arrow thing, I still want to know how can you guys help me the most."
Howell's driving distance was an average 301.6 yards in Phoenix, ninth best in the field. He's sixth best on the PGA Tour in 2007.
While he's been considered a fairly long driver, the few yards he's improved since last year, when he had a 295.4-yard average, brought him up from 51st on Tour.
"I just know that throughout the beginning of the year here I've driven the ball a whole lot better than I have in the last couple years," he said. "You know, I attribute a lot to (the FT-5 driver). It's a little larger face, a little more forgiving. It's nice to hit the ball a long way, but you have to put the ball in the fairway."
SQUARE DRIVER REPORT: Phil Mickelson is known for experimenting with drivers, and he has been trying to find a version of Callaway's FT-i, its square driver, to put in play at Augusta.
"Last week I was experimenting a little with the one I was going to use at Augusta, and I think I found that. It's going to be one of the FT-is, that square-headed driver," he said.
But in the meantime, Mickelson's been using the FT-5, a more traditional driver, in play.
"I'll use this club a lot," he said.
Stewart Cink, who experimented with a Nike Golf Sumo2 square driver in Hawaii, has put it away for now. Though he liked it, he said, the strange noise it makes on contact was an issue.
PROTOTYPES: Titleist is not the only company to have a hot, winning golf ball on tour. While a Titleist Pro V1 or Pro V1x prototype has had four wins in five events on the PGA Tour this year -- and was used by nine of the top 10 players at the FBR Open -- a Srixon prototype ball has been winning on other tours.
Notably, Henrik Stenson bested Ernie Els and Tiger Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic using one of the Z-UR prototype.
Stenson started using the ball in November and has had a top-10 finish in all three European Tour events he's played. He hit 51 of 54 greens in regulation during the first three days of play in Dubai, and then had 15 of 18 in tough conditions the final day.
"That sort of mind-set I had going into the week, just try to grind it out, fairways and greens and give myself chances and try to wear the other guys out, and I guess I succeeded in the end," Stenson said.
