Bryson DeChambeau helps Rocco Mediate to peak putting prowess
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LAHAINA, HAWAII - JANUARY 06: Bryson DeChambeau of the United States reacts to his putt onto the 18th green during the first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on January 06, 2022 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Through four events in 2022, Rocco Mediate, 59, has showcased the best putting of his PGA TOUR Champions career.
Better than his rookie season in 2013, when he won twice. Better than his second season in 2014, when he finished in the top 10 in putting average.
Mediate ranks first in putts per round, second in one-putt percentage and fifth in putting average (putts per green in regulation). He has finished in the top 25 in all four tournaments, and each result has been better than the last. He picked up his first top-10 of the season at PGA TOUR Champions’ most recent event, a T8 at the Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, California.
And he owes it to … Bryson DeChambeau.
Mediate, who used an anchored long putter on the PGA TOUR from 1990 until 2008, began experimenting with DeChambeau’s SIK putter about five months ago. A fan of DeChambeau’s game and approach “even before the long-hitting stuff,” Mediate really liked what he had seen not only in DeChambeau’s putting but in what he had heard him say about it.
“I have always enjoyed watching him do what he does,” Mediate said this week. “He was just different. He went about it a different way. I kind of know the stuff about the golf swing that he does. I studied all this stuff for years. I watched all the stuff … that’s my curse.
“So watching him putt, it kind of looks like I used to do but it's in a different point where the putter is locked on to. It's the same shoulder motion and it's upright, which I love because that's easier on the back.”
Mediate visited the SIK headquarters in Florida, and he worked with the SIK team to find the right fit. He praised them for the time they put in to make him happy.
They also put him in touch with DeChambeau. Mediate said he has spoken with the PGA TOUR star only twice, once in November when he was getting serious about using the SIK putter and again in the run-up to the PGA TOUR Champions season opener, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
“I kind of looked at Bryson’s style, not just the arm lock but the way he did it,” Mediate said. “There's one way to do it. Period. You can't … it's hard to make it your own. It's his. He invented this.”
Mediate said the phone calls totaled about 45 minutes. He cited DeChambeau as being kind enough “to spend any time with me, because there are a lot of demands on his time.”
“I understand some of the stuff he explained,” Mediate said. “He's really, really, really, really smart. And I get it. I totally understand that. And when he explained a few things, like that's why it looks like this, and that's why you need to do this, and that's why it has to be here … it has to be this way. And I had some ‘a-ha!’ moments.
“Basically there's no arc, and this stroke … totally makes sense because I'm controlling the pace of everything with my shoulders. … I just use my shoulders. That's what intrigued me about it.”
Mediate threw himself into using the SIK. He couldn’t know if it would work any other way.
Mediate said he hasn’t had a single three-putt in tournament play this year. And with growing confidence comes better putting and more relaxed iron swings, because a player feels like he can two-putt from just about anywhere.
“I didn't know it was going to be worth anything to me,” Mediate said. “But the only way to find out was to learn how to do it. Work on it and see what it does. And so far under the gun, it has not failed whatsoever.”