Collin Morikawa surprised golf fans at the Travelers Championship on Thursday with his intermittent use of his glove.
Morikawa carded a round of three-under par 67 on day one of the Travelers Championship, and trails joint leader Scottie Scheffler by five shots.
Scheffler made his round look incredibly easy, while it seemed like everything was really hard work for Morikawa.
Last week, Scheffler and Morikawa played alongside one another at the US Open, and while the former managed to record a top-10 finish once again, the latter ended up down in a tie for 23rd.
The world number one was in much better form at TPC River Highlands on Thursday, as he cruised around in 62 shots.
Scheffler said that his second shot on 13 at the Travelers Championship was perfectly executed, and if truth be known, he didn’t really hit a bad shot all round.
However, Morikawa’s inconsistency with the putter prevented him from shooting in the mid-60s.
Both players spoke to reporters after their rounds, and made some very interesting comments indeed.
Scottie Scheffler responds to what Collin Morikawa did at the Travelers Championship
Morikawa is a long way off Scheffler’s level right now.
And he seems to be trying new and innovative ways to help close the gap on the world number one.
Interestingly, the world number four was seen hitting full shots without a glove on certain occasions during round one at TPC River highlands on Thursday.
Morikawa responded when asked why he chose to hit some shots without a glove during the first round of the Travelers Championship.
He said: “Yeah, it’s been a few-day progress. Look, I feel like I’ve been putting good swings on it and they just keep missing in the same spot, so it’s not like my misses are all over the place. I just keep missing 30 feet left.
“Look, when it comes down to it, our hands are what makes us such good athletes and such good golfers is that we have so much feel. For some reason when I’ve taken the glove off this week, it’s kind of worked. It’s just — problem is it’s really hot and it’s sweaty.
“But honestly, I started seeing shots that I was hitting, and even the bad ones were not good, but like that’s kind of where I expect them to be. It was just a back-and-forth kind of thing.“
But is that something we could see the world number one, Scottie Scheffler, try?
The 28-year-old was asked what he thought of Morikawa’s approach after his round.
He said: “I’ve tried to hit without my glove and I’m not any good at it. You definitely won’t see me doing that. I’ve got sweaty hands so that ain’t going to work.“
PGA Tour players who have never played with a glove
There are only a select few who have adopted the ‘no glove’ approach throughout the history of the game.
The most famous of them to play without using a glove are Ben Hogan, Fred Couples, Corey Pavin, Lee Janzen, Lucas Glover and Rocco Mediate.
It’s obviously very much a personal thing.
The majority of tour players will remove their glove when they’re putting to increase the feel in their hands.
Some will even do that when chipping and pitching. However, not wearing a glove at all is a very rare thing in professional golf.
Whether we will see Morikawa continue to use a glove intermittently remains to be seen, but it’s clear that Scheffler definitely will not be deploying that tactic.
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