Kevin Sutherland returns to the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, the place where he shot the Champions Tour’s only 59, struggling with the very club that helped him card the historic score. The 54-year-old is squabbling with his putter, and so far the flat stick is winning.
The leader in greens in regulation is finding it difficult to convert that stat into birdies. He was 10th in putting average in 2017, but has dropped to 54th so far this season.
In an effort to try and improve his fortunes on the greens, Sutherland has switched putters.
“I switched to a different putter for a while that I didn’t use last year,” Sutherland said Tuesday. “It’s just about confidence. There’s nothing dramatically different.”
He performed better than he had after the change, finishing three times in the top 20, including a tie for eighth at the US Senior Open.
Tale of Two Seasons
There is a stark contrast, however, in his performances from last year. In 2017, he finished in the top 5 seven times, including a second-place finish in this event. He also was in the top 10 on seven other occasions. His lone victory was at the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup.
Though he had some strong performances after the replacement in June, he changed putters again, and also switched putting styles.
“Last year I putted most of the year crosshanded, but the last month (of 2017) I putted conventional, and I stayed conventional till June (of this year),” Sutherland said. “Then I putted crosshanded and felt like I putted better. That’s when I switched to crosshanded. “I won the Schwab with the putter I’m using now and conventional. Now it’s the same putter but crosshanded. It’s a little confusing.”
Sutherland hopes this week will lead to another low score, like the one he shot in 2014. Ironically despite shooting the 59, didn’t win the event, ultimately finishing tied for seventh. He is a 12/1 pick to win this week.
Familiar Faces are Favorites
Bernhard Langer is the 4/1 pick to win the event. He won here in 2014, and was sixth last year. Langer also has motivation to finish first. It would keep his streak alive of multiple wins on the Champions Tour. He has won at least twice every season on the PGA TOUR Champions since 2012. His lone victory this season was at the Insperity Invitational in May.
One golfer who has had no trouble finding the winner’s circle this year has been Miguel Angel Jimenez. He is at 6/1 to win this week, but might be a better bet than Langer. Jimenez has won twice, both major championships, and has seven other top 10 finishes.
The defending champion is Scott McCarron, and he is at 8/1. He has one victory, the American Family Insurance Championship in June, and has eight other top 10s.
One golfer that is making his debut and might be worth picking is Dudley Hart, who is at 60/1. There have been at least 18 golfers that have made their first tournament a victorious one, including Jimenez, Rocco Mediate and Jeff Maggert.
Hart would love to win the event, which is a little more than two hours from where he grew up in Rochester, New York.
“This is as close to home as we’re going to get,” Hart said. “I’ve got a lot of friends coming down from the Buffalo area and I’m really looking forward to it.”
