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We’re starting this week’s edition of the Callaway wrap up by focussing on a putter, not a player. The Odyssey Ai One Jailbird Cruiser mallet was the short stick used during one of the best putting performances outside the majors for some time.
Wyndham Clark won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which was shortened to 54 holes due to weather, while ranking first in strokes gained: putting for the tournament. He picked up more than six shots on the field in putting, using the Odyssey Ai One Jailbird Cruiser mallet in competition for the first time. Clark’s Jailbird is 35.75 inches long with a double-bend shaft. The Ai One urethane insert is designed to deliver more consistent ball speeds on off-centre hits and it certainly helped Clark to make more than 180 feet of putts on Saturday alone – during his record third round of 60.
That’s some serious validation for the Ai One Jailbird Cruiser.
It was a big week for Callaway Golf, which also unveiled a new multi-year agreement with Australian superstar Minjee Lee, a 10-time LPGA Tour winner. The exciting news was announced at Callaway Golf’s launch day for the Ai Smoke Paradym driver and Chrome Soft Tour ball at Sandy Golf Links on Melbourne’s Sandbelt. Lee, a two-time major winner, will carry 14 Callaway clubs in the bag, including an Odyssey Putter, plus a Callaway golf ball, bag and glove.
Callaway now has two of the best swings in the women’s game on staff, with Lee joining American Rose Zhang as an ambassador. Lee is chasing a third career major in 2024, to go with the 2021 Amundi Evian Championship and the 2022 US Women’s Open. Two of her LPGA victories came in 2023, at the Kroger Queen City Championship and the BMW Ladies Championship. Lee’s brother, Australian PGA Championship winner, Min Woo, is now plying his trade on the PGA Tour as a Callaway tour professional.
“I’m thrilled to be joining the Callaway staff, and I’m excited to see how their equipment will help my performance going forward,” Lee said. “They’re the most-played club brand on the LPGA, so I’ve seen how good the product is and how much it’s helped my brother take his game to the next level. Now that I’ve had a chance to try their new driver and the Chrome Tour Ball, I feel confident in my setup, and I know that this is the right decision for me.”
On the DP World Tour, Dylan Frittelli, ended a six-year win drought on the European circuit at the Bahrain Championship. His first worldwide win in five years was gutsy; the South African played his first 12 holes in two over but birdied three of his next four to post a one-under 71 and win by two shots.
The 33-year-old, who usually plays on the PGA Tour, is using a new exemption category on the DP World Tour. It allows five players per event – who finished between 126th and 200th on the 2023 FedEx Cup rankings in the US – to compete.
“It’s been a long road the last five or six years since I left the DP World Tour and went to the States,” Frittelli said. “Pretty tough year last year but feels awesome to be back on top right now.”
Frittelli used the Paradym Triple Diamond driver and fairway woods, as well as the Chrome Soft X golf ball and Ai-ONE Milled Eleven T DB putter.
On the PGA Tour, Belgian star and Callaway staffer Thomas Detry finished tied fourth at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The 31-year-old from Brussels recorded his fifth career top 10 on the PGA Tour. Detry’s set up includes the Paradym Triple Diamond driver as well as the Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond fairway woods. He also opts for the Jaws Raw Face Chrome wedges and Chrome Tour X golf ball.
“I’ve been working on staying in the present and being mentally stronger on all these little things which I feel like have paid off [at Pebble Beach],” Detry said. “A couple mistakes out there, but I was really trying to stay resilient and play my game and that’s it.”
