Since Switch, Ernie Els is the Tours’ best putter

En route to this weekend’s fifth-place finish at the Quicken Loans National, Ernie Els gained 1.99 strokes on the field thanks to his work on Congressional’s greens.

Of course, it wasn’t long ago that Els agonizingly took six putts from within three feet on the first green at Augusta National, and several videos of other painful misses from close range made their rounds on the internet.

In what is perhaps the equipment story of the year so far, since switching to a SeeMore mFGP Deep Flange Nashville Studio Series (with SuperStroke Flatso 1.0 grip, left-hand low) during the third round of the RBC Heritage, Ernie Els has effectively led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting.

That’s right. Els went from a golfer so heartwrenchingly yippy from close range that some speculated his career could be over, to tops on the PGA Tour in putting.

Amazing stuff.

In 20 measured rounds with the SeeMore mFGP DF in the bag, Els has gained 24.08 strokes with his putter. And his average SGP over that time is 1.204, which is better than PGA Tour leader Jason Day’s work this season (1.145).

An incredible turnaround, and strong support for the ever-tinkering ways of WRXers: Finding the right putter, and one which inspires confidence on the greens, can truly make a difference.