Matt Fitzpatrick's dramatic playoff victory over Scottie Scheffler at the RBC Heritage delivered more than just another PGA Tour title. His winning 12-foot putt, rolled home with a classic Bettinardi BB1 Flow blade putter, sent a clear message that traditional putter designs aren't ready for retirement just yet.
The English golfer's journey back to blade putting success tells a compelling story of equipment confidence and personal preference trumping industry trends. Fitzpatrick has used the same Bettinardi blade for all four of his PGA Tour victories, including his breakthrough 2022 U.S. Open triumph.
Yet even Fitzpatrick wasn't immune to the mallet movement that has swept professional golf in recent years. At the end of last season, he made the switch to a new Bettinardi BB48 prototype mid-mallet, complete with a double-bend shaft and the same unique C-groove face milling as his trusted blade.
The mallet experiment showed initial promise when Fitzpatrick won the DP World Tour Championship. However, his early 2026 PGA Tour results told a different story. Through his first four starts of the season, Fitzpatrick lost strokes putting in every single event.
Recognizing the trend, Fitzpatrick made the decisive switch back to his blade putter. The results were immediate and impressive. He finished second at the Players Championship in his first event back with the BB1, then captured victory at the Valspar Championship the following week.
Since returning to the blade, Fitzpatrick has gained strokes on the greens in all four tournaments, compiling an impressive record of two wins, one runner-up finish, and a T18 at the Masters. His two victories represent the only PGA Tour wins this season achieved with a blade putter.
To put this achievement in perspective, the last blade putter victory before Fitzpatrick's recent wins came at last year's 3M Open, when Kurt Kitayama prevailed using a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Tour Prototype. This extended drought underscores just how dominant mallet putters have become on professional golf's biggest stage.
Fitzpatrick's putter tells its own fascinating story. The Bettinardi BB1 Flow prototype is essentially a replica of the Yes! Golf Tracy II he used during his college days. The creation process was meticulous – Bettinardi crafted 30 prototypes before meeting the exacting standards of the 2013 U.S. Amateur champion.
The putter features Bettinardi's signature Double Aged Stainless Steel construction, typically reserved for their Tour-level putters. At 34 inches long with 2.5 degrees of loft and a 72-degree lie angle, the specifications reflect Fitzpatrick's precise preferences developed over years of competitive play.
Fitzpatrick wasn't the only player to reconsider his putter choice during the RBC Heritage. Justin Thomas, who has become synonymous with Scotty Cameron's Phantom mallet series, made a mid-tournament switch that caught attention throughout the professional ranks.
After struggling through the first two rounds with his Phantom 5.5 mallet, losing more than 6.5 strokes on the greens while shooting 76-75, Thomas reached for his Newport 2 GSS blade for the weekend rounds. The change proved transformative – he gained 1.676 strokes putting over the final two days, an improvement of more than eight shots that helped him close with rounds of 70-66.
These developments suggest that reports of blade putters' demise on the PGA Tour may have been premature. While mallet putters continue to dominate equipment choices among tour professionals, the recent successes of Fitzpatrick and Thomas's weekend turnaround demonstrate that traditional designs still have a place at golf's highest level.
The broader implications extend beyond individual player preferences. Equipment manufacturers have invested heavily in mallet technology, developing increasingly sophisticated designs with enhanced stability and forgiveness. However, Fitzpatrick's success story serves as a reminder that personal comfort and confidence often outweigh technological advantages.
As the PGA Tour season progresses, Fitzpatrick's blade putter revival will likely influence other players questioning their equipment choices. His two victories have proven that success on tour isn't solely dependent on following the latest trends, but rather on finding the tools that best complement individual skills and preferences.