Equipment scoop from the tours

Much was made of Sergio Garcia’s change to a TaylorMade belly putter prior to the British Open, but at the Tour Championship the Spaniard used a new putter — a Guerin Rife Barbados model — to end fourth. Last week’s putter was heel-shafted; the belly model Garcia used at Carnoustie was center-shafted. … Mark Calcavecchia was down to one putter in Atlanta (he had used a pair in a before FedEx Cup event). Calc also went with a new driver (a Ping G10) with the same ancient-school loft (7.5 degrees) he has used all year. … So with a $10 million annuity on the line, what did K.J. Choi do? Switch to a set of Nike Ignite irons, a lower-priced club that retails for $400 for a set of eight. Fellow Nike staff player Rory Sabbatini won earlier this year at Colonial using the bargain bats. … Ernie Els gave fans at East Lake a sneak preview of Odyssey’s putter line for 2008 when he used a Black Series i3 model. The putter features a new, firmer face insert. … Those at last week’s PGA Fall Expo in Las Vegas got a look at Nike’s driver line for next year, including revised Sumo² and Sumo drivers. The drivers, which won’t be available until February, figure a deep face, and the square-shaped Sumo² boasts a moment of inertia of 5,900 — peak allowed by USGA rules.

Tags: Belly Putter, British Open, Deep Face, Ernie Els, Fedex, Fedex Cup, Guerin, Mark Calcavecchia, Moment Of Inertia, Nike Ignite Irons, Ping G10, Rife Barbados, Rory Sabbatini, S Driver, Sergio Garcia, Sneak Preview, Spaniard, Staff Player, Tour Championship, Usga Rules