Rickie Fowler unveils several gear changes in return to competition at Sanderson Farms Championship

The last time we saw Rickie Fowler tee it up in PGA TOUR competition was in Scotland in July at the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open (missed cut) and The Open Championship 2024 (71st). Fowler seeks to shake some rust off this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, the second event of the FedExCup Fall, and looks to position himself in the Aon Next 10 and the first two Signature Events of the 2025 FedExCup season. GolfWRX.com photographed Fowler’s full “What’s in the Bag” on Monday, revealing a number of gear changes.

“Time off allows for some testing or potential change,” Fowler said in a press conference on Tuesday. “In a season, you might have a week or maybe a two-week break, and it’s sometimes tough to make changes in there, or I’m also not someone … I don’t like to make a whole lot of changes unless I have the time to put reps in and have a bit more of an idea how things are going to work.”

Fowler is set to make three different equipment changes this week:

1. He’s adding a 13.5-degree TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper

With a touch of lead tape on the toe for a fade-biased flight, Fowler is adding a TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper into the bag that’s equipped with a Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73TX shaft. Throughout 2024, Fowler has used a standard-sized 3-wood head at 13.5 degrees, but he says he feels like the Mini Driver is, “something very beneficial off the tee, especially at a golf course like this [The Country Club of Jackson] … I’ve seen a lot of good benefits from it.”

The mini driver has grown in popularity on TOUR this season with Jake Knapp winning the 2024 Mexico Open at Vidanta with a TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver in the bag along with Max Homa (TaylorMade BRNR Mini), Tommy Fleetwood (TaylorMade BRNR Mini), Adam Scott (TaylorMade BRNR Mini), Chris Gotterup (TaylorMade BRNR Mini), Cameron Young (Titleist TSR 2-wood), Webb Simpson (Titleist TSR 2-wood) and Akshay Bhatia (Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Ti340 Mini Driver) all playing one at some point during the season.

2. He’s switching into Cobra King Tour black irons

As for the irons, Fowler is switching to a new, black version of his previous Cobra King Tour irons (4-PW), which means the change here is mostly just cosmetic.

“For the irons, they’re just a black version of the same Cobra King Tours that I was playing, just a different color,” Fowler said on Tuesday. “I thought they looked a little bit better. Put those straight in.”

3. He’s swapping his Odyssey Jailbird putter into an L.A.B. Golf DF3 mallet putter

Throughout 2024, Fowler has been conducting off-and-on putter testing, experimenting with different prototype putters from various companies, and trying putters of varying lengths but for the most part has stuck with a version of the Odyssey Jailbird which steered him to victory at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Championship. This week at the Sanderson Farms Championship, Fowler is going with an L.A.B. Golf DF3 mallet at a standard 34.5 inches, equipped with a TPT shaft and an L.A.B. Press Pistol grip.

Fowler’s putter differs from other L.A.B. putters that GolfWRX.com has spotted on TOUR due to its single alignment line on the crown that sits parallel to the face, rather than going directly down the target line.

“About the extended time at home, I had a little extra time to be able to do some more testing with an L.A.B. putter, and saw a lot of good things from it,” Fowler said. “Liked what I’ve seen at home, so giving that a test run this week … the putter I’ve been doing some testing with for I guess almost two months now. Testing other stuff, as well. Like I said, I wouldn’t be putting something into play if I didn’t think there was a real potential benefit.”

Either way, Fowler is back on the PGA TOUR, and he’ll look to improve on his current FedExCup Fall Ranking of 110.