Rickie Fowler is making his first appearance in a PGA Tour event since the 2024 British Open this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi. As one of the field’s headliners, he spoke with the media on Tuesday.
After discussing the course and his plans to play a few more PGA Tour events in 2024, Fowler was asked about some new equipment that was spotted in his bag.
“Yeah, got a few things. From irons, they’re just a black version of the same Cobra King Tours that I was playing, just a different color. I thought they looked a little bit better. Put those straight in.”
The King Tour is a compact, forged iron with a thermoplastic insert in the back that softens feel and enhances sound. Fowler started using the standard chrome version in 2023, nearly winning the U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club with them before finally winding up in the winner’s circle at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
On Tuesday, Fowler commented on a new putter he is preparing to use this week.
“I had a little extra time to be able to do some more testing with a L.A.B. putter and saw a lot of good things from it. Like I said, liked what I’ve seen at home, so giving that a test run this week. Hopefully, we continue to see good things.”
L.A.B Golf DF3 putter (David Dusek/Golfweek)
The putter Fowler is using is a L.A.B. DF3. After you sole it behind the ball, the DF3’s weighting encourages the face of the putter to remain square to the arc you establish in the address position, creating what L.A.B. refers to as Lie Angle Balance.
Fowler also sounds like he is making a switch at the top of his bag too.
“Outside of that, added a mini driver from TaylorMade, so basically a replacement for 3-wood.” Fowler said. “Feel like it’s something very beneficial off the tee, especially at a golf course like this, so I’ve seen, again, a lot of good benefits from it.”
Mini drivers and extra-large 2-woods are gaining popularity among elite players who do not use their 3-wood off the turf and instead only use it off the tee. Tommy Fleetwood has been carrying a mini driver for a few seasons and last year Cameron Young and Max Homa also used a mini driver in several PGA Tour events.
