Perhaps the most memorable putt of the 37th Ryder Cup was Hunter Mahan's 17th hole bomb to put him 1 up over Paul Casey in the second of Sunday's singles matches at Valhalla Golf Club.
Mahan lost the 18th but gained a much needed half-point toward the American victory.
Mahan's putter is a relatively new model from Ping, an iWi D66. He first began using the flat stick after the PGA Championship.
"As soon as I grabbed it, put it down, it just looked good to me," said Mahan after starting the FedEx Cup with the new putter. "I liked the feel and just been using it the last couple of weeks and been feeling great. I love the feel, love the setup and it's rolling great for me."
The iWi D66 uses interchangeable weight inserts. One of the two 12-gram steel inserts is placed near the heel; the other is on the toe. Golfers can use optional tungsten 20- and 28-gram weights to make the putter heavier, if desired.
In addition to the singles halve, Mahon was undefeated for the week (2-0-3) and earned the most points (3.5) of anyone on the U.S. team.
HYBRID POWER: Will MacKenzie used his Adams Idea 18-degree hybrid to his benefit Sunday in his second PGA Tour win.
MacKenzie won the Viking Classic in a playoff after making birdies on the 18th hole three consecutive times - twice in the playoff itself. Both times, MacKenzie hit the green with his second shot using the Idea hybrid.
It was most difficult in the final playoff hole, MacKenzie said.
"It was like I was so pumped up there I could hit that hybrid over the green," he said. "I had to really smooth it. And it's tough to smooth a shot when you have water left and water front, you really can't move that pin."
MacKenzie's Adams hybrid used an Accra XH 85 Tour Edition red shaft.
SUPER STROKE STRIKES AGAIN: Nationwide Tour player Matt Bettencourt earned his first win at last week's Oregon Classic by being straight (hitting 67.9 percent of fairways) and long (averaging 300.8 yards) off the tee and sinking a lot of putts.
No surprise that's what it takes to win. But Bettencourt hadn't had the putting in place until just a few weeks ago.
"I switched to the Super Stroke Grip 13 weeks ago," he said. "Went from around 150 to the top 50 in putting," Bettencourt said. "It's made all the difference in the world for me."
Earlier this year, the Super Stroke grip caught the eye of K.J. Choi, who admitted that he purchased one after watching an infomercial. The idea behind the grip is that the larger size quiets the hands and keeps them working together.
"It's taken my hands out of it," Bettencourt said. "(It's) really changed my game."
For the week, Bettencourt had 1.604 putts per GIR (T4 in the field) and 27.3 putts per round (T11).
