In golf, the putter is the great equalizer, and Webb Simpson was rolling his rock on Friday. He canned 186 feet of putts during the second round at Harbour Town Golf Links, including three putts of more than 20 feet, and shot a second straight 65 to grab a one-stroke lead over Bryson DeChambeau at the midway point of the RBC Heritage.
Simpson credited his silky-smooth stroke to a small change he’d made after his first round.
“The ball got too far back in my setup, so I just moved it up a little bit, and it helped my aim,” he explained. “I was aiming everything right, so I moved it up on the line that came back and started rolling it better.”
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Did he ever. When told that his Strokes Gained: putting total for the day was an astounding +5.994, Simpson said, “I don’t know if I’ve hit in the sixes. I’ll ask my caddie. I think I have maybe one time, but, yeah, I guess it’s up there.”
Simpson began his round at No. 10 and sank a 14-foot birdie putt to set the tone for the day. But a pair of bogeys at Nos. 14 and 16 didn’t suggest it would be another banner day at the Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, seaside resort course that is beloved by Simpson. At 16, Simpson tugged his tee shot left into trouble and had to take a penalty stroke. On the walk to the next tee, caddie Paul Tesori, a former Tour pro who serves as Simpson’s de facto swing instructor on the road, provided a tip that made all the difference.
“I just asked Paul why I’m a little off with some of these shots, and he said my lower body wasn’t really firing like it normally does,” Simpson said. “So, I just tried to feel that fire position in my pre-shot routine or my practice swing, and I started hitting a lot better. I only hit one ball left after that.”
His putter took care of the rest. Simpson poured in a 22-foot birdie putt at 17 and a 38-foot birdie at 18 to make the turn in 33.
🎯 @WebbSimpson1 goes into the clubhouse with the outright lead at -12.
He made 186 FEET of putts on Friday @RBC_Heritage. 😯 pic.twitter.com/SutZzik2wf
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 19, 2020
Simpson knocked approaches inside 10 feet at Nos. 1 and 3 and converted those putts before dialing in another long-distance birdie at the fifth from 27 feet. Simpson gave a stroke back at the par-3 7th, but closed with a pair of birdies to wrap up his round of 65 and a 36-hole aggregate of 12-under 130.
While DeChambeau grabs headlines for bulking up and blasting tape-measure drives, Simpson continues to prove that a singles hitter still can succeed on the PGA Tour. He already took down long-hitting Tony Finau to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff in February. Simpson averages a “paltry” 300 yards off the tee, which ranks 84th on Tour this season.
“It’s very satisfying knowing like I’m not near as long as some of these guys and I’m able to kind of use my skills of distance control and shot shape to kind of pick me back up when I’m 40 yards or 30 yards behind these guys,” he said. “I would like to hit it farther. I set out on a journey three years ago to get stronger, hit it farther, but do it a lot slower than Bryson, but he’s made it look easy and seamless.”
Simpson’s journey meant getting in the gym and working on his overall fitness.
“I called him a skinny fat kid. Now he’s a skinny ripped kid,” Tesori said. (Simpson noted that he’s gained 20 pounds since he hit the weight room.)
“He’s gained about eight yards in the air over the last two years. He’s stronger, more flexible,” Tesori added. “He can never do what [the longest hitters] do, but in his own way he’s worked as hard as he could not to keep up, but if they keep pushing it, we need to at least follow the push. If they get eight yards longer, we need to get eight too.”
Simpson said he’s seen an increase in his ball speed of 4-5 miles per hour in the three years while taking a more methodical approach to changing his body than DeChambeau.
“It’s getting there, and I want to keep going,” he said of his ball-speed gain. “I can get it to 172. I want to get it to 176, 177.”
Simpson knows gaining distance would allow him to better compete with the Tour bombers, but nothing tops a hot putter as he proved again on Friday.
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