Carl Pettersson was one of nine PGA Tour players who hired Boston attorney Harry Manion to plead their case if they decided to contest the pending ban on anchored putting. Now, the five-time tour winner who has shoved a flat stick into his chest since 1998 has thrown in the towel and will switch to a short putter going forward, according to Golfweek’s Jeff Rude.
Pettersson put a regulation putter into play during a practice round at last month’s Travelers Championship and deployed it for the final round of last week’s John Deere Classic. Satisfied with his 28-putt outcome in the finale of the Deere event, Pettersson decided to add it to his bag for this week’s British Open as well.
“It felt really good,” Pettersson, who ranks 75th in strokes gained-putting on tour, told Rude. “I holed all the ones you’re supposed to hole, the ones in the three- to six-foot range.”
The 35-year-old from Sweden, who was a vocal opponent of the USGA and R&A’s plan to outlaw the anchored putting stroke starting in 2016, will grasp his 37-inch putter with a split claw grip similar to the one he’s used for so long on his long wand. Indeed, he told Rude he blamed the “commotion” that the ban inspired for the funk that sent his putting stats plummeting from last year, when he ranked 21st.
“Sunday was big,” said Pettersson, who, along with the rest of his would-be litigants, decided not to take the USGA to court over the upcoming anchoring prohibition. “If I had gone pear-shaped with the short putter, I’d really be confused right now.”
