Many people will remember the 2023 PGA Tour season for Rickie Fowler’s comeback on the greens with a putter that shocked everyone in the golf world. Fowler has been using an Odyssey Versa Jailbird putter that is over ten years old since January. Both Fowler and the Tour rep who helped bring the putter to life have written a lot about its history.
The reason Fowler switched putters is the only person we haven’t heard from. That would be Fowler’s caddie, Ricky Romano. Romano taught Fowler how to use the club during a round at the Madison Club in January.
Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, co-hosts of GOLF’s Subpar Podcast, recently asked Romano to tell them the story of how Fowler got an exact copy of his gamer putter.
They were getting ready to tee off on the practise putting green at the Madison Club, so the story goes. When Fowler asked Romano if he could roll a few with his putter, Romano had just made another mid-range putt. After that, Fowler was hooked.
Read More: What you need to know about Odyssey Ai-One putters.
Romeo told Subpar, “That day we played nine holes, and on every green, he grabbed my putter and asked if he could use it.” What he said to me on the fourth green was, “This putter is like cheating.” I had a “aha!” moment at that very moment. Rick has used four, five, or six different putters in the past year. He is looking.
“I thought about whether he was going to get another putter made. After we were done, he asked if he could take the putter for a few days so that the guys at Odyssey could make a copy. I didn’t suggest any of those things. Of course he could, I told him. If they couldn’t make another one, he could have mine. I don’t mind as long as he makes putts.
Odyssey finally made Fowler a copy from the only Jailbird head on the truck—remember, they had stopped making Jailbird heads—and then things began to make sense. So good was Fowler that other pros, like Wyndham Clark, began to pay attention to him during the season.
Read More: The Odyssey Ai-One Rossie S Putter: A Comprehensive Review.
Clark asked Odyssey to make him a putter that looked just like Fowler’s soon after they played a match. Not long after that, Clark beat Fowler at the U.S. Open with the same Versa Jailbird while playing in the same group on Sunday.
Romano said that he wished the putter could have stayed secret and out of the hands of rivals for a little longer, even though Fowler had a great season.
Romano joked, “I just wish no one had the chance to try it.” You can’t hide the fact that it broke my heart to see Wyndham win the U.S. Open with that putter.
Read More: Five of the best golf clubs for people with high handicaps in 2023.
On the other hand, Odyssey was happy to go along with the request. It was one of the most profitable days in the company’s history when the Versa Jailbird 380 sold out in minutes of going on sale. That’s pretty good for a putter Romano picked up on the spur of the moment when he was looping for Charlie Beljan.
The post “This putter is like cheating”: Rickie Fowler’s caddie talks about where golf’s hottest club came from originally appeared on Golf.
