Denny McCarthy is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. Last season, McCarthy ranked fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting, fourth in putts per round, and seventh in one-putt percentage.
But even the world’s best have to tinker when things aren’t going right.
After struggling on the greens en route to a tie for 46th place at the Sentry, McCarthy decided to make wholesale changes to his putter before this week’s Sony Open.
“I’ve been feeling a little uncomfortable with my putter lately,” McCarthy told SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio after Thursday’s first round. “I needed to look at something different this week. Scotty Cameron — new putter, new insert, new grip, even changed the length a little bit. I just wanted something totally different.”
The change worked out for McCarthy in the first round at Waialae Country Club. The 31-year-old made over 145 feet of putts to card a bogey-free, six-under 64. He’s tied at the top of the leaderboard alongside Harry Hall, Eric Cole, Adam Schenk, Tom Hoge, and Paul Peterson. Six players are one shot back of the pack at 5-under.
“I’ve just kind of been struggling looking down at my putter,” McCarthy told reporters after his round. “It just hasn’t felt right lately. I don’t know what’s been going on, but it just hasn’t looked great to my eye the last couple months. I’ve been fighting it.
“So after last week, I kind of had determined that I wanted to change this week, just something different to look at, and I really liked how this one felt. I went through a couple different putters, trying them on the green, and landed on this one and it feels pretty good.”
McCarthy will look to keep the flat stick hot on Friday when he tees off at 6:10 p.m. ET with Charley Hoffman and Alex Smalley.
