NORTON, Mass. – Count Phil Mickelson among the long-putter converts. Lefty showed up for his 6:50 a.m. pro-am tee time at TPC Boston with a belly putter in his bag, joining the likes of Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Retief Goosen. It is a Odyssey White Ice Sabertooth model.
‘I played with Keegan Bradley and I asked him a bunch of questions(about the belly putter),’ said Mickelson, who alternated between hisshort and long putter on the back nine of his pro-am round. ‘I ended uphaving Odyssey make up the exact replica of the putter he has. I’ve beentalking to him on the phone a little bit, little tidbits on ballposition, setup and so forth. It’s awkward to me, but so many guys havehad success with it that I thought I’d give it a try.’
Mickelson teed off with a belly putter and his standard-length model. After the round he was asked if he’ll use the belly putter Friday for the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship and he said, ‘probably.’
