Hudson Swafford hadn’t won since the 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge, but he was attempting to do so at the 2020 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship with eight of the same clubs he had en route to winning in his first PGA Tour victory.
Chief among them is the Ping S55 6-iron that he stuck to seven feet on the 159-metre par-3 17th, and he then converted the putt with his TaylorMade Spider X Chalk mallet to regain the lead he had kicked away earlier in the final nine. Swafford had held a commanding lead before double-bogeying the 13th hole and bogeying the 15th, putting him in a temporary three-way tie with Tyler McCumber and Mackenzie Hughes.
“It was like the shot at 17 at PGA West when I won,” said Swafford of the tee shot at the 71st hole today. “I was like, Man, you gotta step up and I hit a good, flighted 6-iron. I’ve done it 100,000 times. I love hitting that golf shot and man, it was a good one and an even better putt.”
Although that proved to be the deciding birdie for win No.2, Swafford hit another brilliant long iron into the 517-metre par-5 fourth that led to an eagle. Swafford’s Ping G400 driver also served him well as he averaged 301 metres (329 yards) for the week (ranked T-13) while hitting 78.6 percent of his fairways, ranking 18th in the field.
Still, Swafford, who had not three-putted all week and needed to convert a nervy six-footer for the win, which he managed to make for a one-stroke victory over McCumber.
The clubs Hudson Swafford had in the bag at the 2020 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Ping G410 LST (Aldila NV 2KXV), 8.5 degrees
3-wood: Ping i25, 14 degrees
5-wood: Ping i25, 18 degrees
Irons (4-9): Ping S55; (PW): Titleist Vokey SM8
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52, 55 degrees); TaylorMade Milled Grind Hi Toe (60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Chalk
