Golf notebook: Pettersson abandons long putter

Golf notebook: Pettersson abandons long putter

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Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange July 22, 2013 12:31 AMThe SportsXchange


--Carl Pettersson of Sweden, one of the most outspoken critics of the ban on anchored putters mandated by the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews that will begin in 2016, has switched to a conventional putter, for now.



"I hadn't putted very good with the long one this year, so I just figured I'd give it a try on Sunday (at the John Deere)," Pettersson said. "I wasn't planning on changing, but I just hadn't putted all that well this year. I figured I'd give it a shot now, especially with the decision and stuff. I was pleasantly surprised how well I putted on Sunday."



At Muirfield, he averaged 30.42 putts per round on the tricky greens. He finished in a tie for 54th.



--In other long-putter news, Tianlang Guan, the 14-year-old Chinese prodigy who became the youngest player in Masters history, has abandoned anchoring his belly putter.



"I just have a try with it, and I feel good with the change," Guan told John Strege of Golf Digest. "It's not a big deal. It's fine. I just think anchoring doesn't help; it's part of the game. But it's OK they stop using it. I'm OK with it."



On his way to a tie for 58th in the Masters, Guan broke the record for youngest player to make the cut in a major, set by Matteo Manassero of Italy, who was 16 when he made it to the weekend in the 2009 OpenChampionship at Turnberry in Scotland.



--Ariya Jutanugarn, the 17-year-old from Thailand who has made a big first impression on the LPGA Tour this season despite not being a member, returned home to Bangkok and underwent surgery on her right shoulder.



"I hope I will be fit enough to join the LPGA qualifying school (late this year)," said Jutanugarn, who is expected to be out of action for at least several weeks.




Despite beginning the season with no status on the LPGA Tour, Jutanugarn has played exceptionally well after either getting into tournament fields through Monday qualifying or sponsor's exemptions.



After winning the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in March on the Ladies European Tour, of which she is a member, Jutanugarn turned to the LPGA Tour.



Jutanugarn earned $447,722, which would place her 13th on the LPGA Tour money list if she were a member. She is fifth on the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit with 74,520 euros.



--Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will play in a head-to-head match in China for the second consecutive year, scheduled for Oct. 28, according to a report by Agence France Presse.



"Rory and I have played against and with each other a lot over the past few years, and he beat me in China last time, so I'm looking forward to playing again," Woods said in a press release.



Added McIlroy: "Everyone knows he's hugely competitive each time he steps on the golf course, so I know he'll want to beat me, just as I'll be very keen to beat him again."



--Lucy Li, the 10-year-old from Redwood Shores, Calif., who became the youngest person to qualify for the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links last month, now has become the youngest qualifier in the history of the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.



Last year, Latanna Stone was 10 years, 11 months and two days old when she became the youngest player in U.S. Women's Amateur history at the Country Club of Cleveland in Pepper Pike, Ohio.