Cameron Smith has been regarded as one of the game's best putters for many years now, but even the Australian isn't partial to a change of flatstick.
Throughout his professional career, he has used a Scotty Cameron 009M Tour Prototype, a blade-style putter that catapulted him to Major glory at St Andrews, as well as multiple wins worldwide.
However, at The 154th Open Championship, a major change from Smith caught the eye of many... and it shouldn't have been a surprise given the recent equipment trend.
Blade putters have dropped in popularity on the professional circuits and, at Royal Birkdale, Smith became the most recent player to move from a blade to a mallet.
First reported by Inside Tour Golf, the 32-year-old was seen using a prototype custom Scotty Cameron Phantom 3 model, which features in the traditional black finish that Smith has in-play.
Like his 009M Tour Prototype, it possesses a single dot alignment aid on the crown, with two sole weights present to help with the feel through the stroke.
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A compact, maneuverable mid-mallet that possesses soft, rounded contours, Smith isn't the only player to put the Phantom 3 in-play, as Ludvig Aberg also switched from his blade-style putter to the mallet flatstick.
As of writing, nine of the world's top 10 use a mallet putter, with only Matt Fitzpatrick having a blade-putter in-play. In fact, with Aberg's switch, 19 of the world's top 20 now use a mallet.
Firing a three-over-par 73 first round at Royal Birkdale, Smith lost 0.55 shots on the field when it came to Strokes Gained: Putting, making under 60-feet of putts holed.
Speaking after his round, he stated: "I don't think it was all really that bad. Got a lot of crosswinds off the tee and hit it into the rough by one or two meters a few times and ended up making bogey.
"It was tough out there, though. Yeah, I don't really think I would change a whole lot to be honest. Just needed a couple of putts to go in that missed, and a couple more fairways would have been nice.
"I think we're like third or fourth group tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to getting onto some fresher greens.
"They were getting pretty baked out and a little bit bouncy. Felt like you couldn't really be aggressive. Looking forward to some fresher greens, hopefully see some putts go in."
