"I might dabble with the Spider again" - Rory McIlroy faces putter dilemma ahead of $18,000,000 FedEx Cup Finale

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is making final adjustments to his preparation for the $18,000,000 FedEx Cup final tournament. It's no surprise that those adjustments have to do with his putter, something McIlroy himself admitted on Monday.

Rory McIlroy, number two in the Official World Golf Ranking (OGWR) and third in the FedEx Cup rankings, played with the Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 putter for the first two postseason playoffs.

Although he had good results, he admitted he's thinking about a new change. "I might dabble with the Spider again," he said.

He was referring to his TaylorMade Spider X putter, with which he played most of his last tournaments of the season.

Rory McIlroy told reporters on Monday, according to Golf Monthly:

"I played good tee to green [at the FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship and the BMW Championship]. Missed a lot of chances. Sort of similar story to Memphis. I might dabble with the Spider again on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Tour Championship."

He added:

"I felt like I hit good putts. I holed some really good putts and I missed some short ones. I always felt like I was aiming too high and then I'd miss them low because I just couldn't commit to aiming it so far outside the hole."

All indications are that the switch from the TaylorMade to the Scotty Cameron was an impulsive attempt at improvement.

That's how McIlroy himself described it, according to Golf Monthly:

“It was zero testing process. It was go into the garage and see what I had and just pull a couple out and go have a few putts.”

Rory McIlroy will tee off next Thursday in the penultimate group of the TOUR Championship at 1:47 p.m. (Eastern Time). He will be starting with a score of -7, and his playing partner will be Jon Rahm.

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How has Rory McIlroy's putting performed in recent tournaments?

Rory McIlroy is a very complete player, although it is well known that his weakest area of play is putting. However, he has worked remarkably hard in this area, and putter changes have been part of that work.

His current season average in stroke gained (SG) for putting is 0.108 (75th of all PGA Tour players). He requires 28.42 putts per round (PPR, 33rd) and needs more than one putt nearly 60% of the time.

In the first two FedEx Cup playoff events (using the Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 putter), Rory McIlroy's putting has performed significantly better than his season average.

At the FedEx St. Jude Championship, his SG: Putting was 1,387, while he needed 27 PPR. Meanwhile, at the BMW Championship, his SG: Putting was 0.809, and he averaged 28.75 PPR.

In contrast, during the Scottish Open and the Travelers Championship (where McIlroy used the TaylorMade Spider X), his putting performed even better than at Mamephis and Olympia Fields.

In Scotland, his SG: Putting was 1.5, and he used 27.50 PPR, while at TPC River Highlands, his SG: Putting grew to 2.271, while his PPR remained at his average (28.75).