Compiled by Multiple-Award-Winning PGA Professional Brendon R. Elliott, PrimePutt’s Director of Instruction and Lead Writer
Sometimes the week’s best putting story is about a player catching absolute fire. Sometimes it is about something subtler, and maybe even more instructive: knowing exactly which putts matter most, then having the nerve and the structure to hole them when the tournament is wobbling.
That was this week in a nutshell.
Matt Fitzpatrick won the Valspar Championship with a putting performance that felt less like a putting explosion and more like a masterclass in timing. He rolled in the two putts everybody will remember, survived the moments that could have wrecked his round and did it all after going back to the putter setup that data told him still gave him his best chance from scoring range. Hyo Joo Kim’s win at the Fortinet Founders Cup was different. She built her victory with three rounds of relentless efficiency, field-leading total putts through 54 holes and zero three-putts, then held off a full-speed Nelly Korda charge with back-nine nerve and a couple of par saves that were every bit as important as the birdies.
The Numbers That Tell the Story
Start with Fitzpatrick. He won the Valspar at 11-under 273 with a bogey-free final-round 68. The decisive moments came on the par-3 15th, where he holed a 30-foot birdie putt, and on the par-4 18th, where he buried the winning birdie from roughly 13 to 14 feet. Golf Digest also noted that he finished second in greens in regulation for the week and made only four bogeys all tournament, the fewest in the field. PGA TOUR tournament stats also listed him first in putts per round for the week, which is exactly the kind of quiet efficiency that fits the way he won.
Kim’s numbers are cleaner because the LPGA’s daily stat sheets tell the story almost round by round. In Round 1, she opened with a 9-under 63 while hitting 13 of 18 greens and taking only 22 putts, the fewest in the field. Through 36 holes she was at 52 total putts with 1.62 GIR putts and no three-putts. Through 54 holes she had stretched that to 79 total putts, 1.55 GIR putts and still no three-putts, while leading the field in fewest total putts. Then on Sunday, when the putter did not look nearly as stress-free, she still got around in 30 putts and closed out the title at 16-under 272 for her eighth LPGA win and second Founders Cup title.
Matt Fitzpatrick: Not a Hot Streak, a Better Window
The most interesting part of Fitzpatrick’s week is that it did not come out of nowhere, but it also was not built on season-long putting dominance. Entering the week, PGA TOUR betting-profile data listed him at minus-0.236 in Strokes Gained: Putting for the season and averaging 29.33 putts per round. In other words, the putter had not exactly been carrying him into Palm Harbor.
So what changed? Fitzpatrick explained it before the event. He had gone back to his old blade after looking at the data and seeing that his make rates from 5 to 15 feet were “much better” with the blade than with the mallet. He said the overall strokes-gained difference was not dramatic, but the make-rate difference in that scoring window was enough to convince him to switch back. Golf Digest reported that the winning putter was a Bettinardi BB1 DASS prototype. That matters because this win was built on exactly the kind of putts that live in that 5-to-15-foot neighborhood, plus one huge 30-footer at the 15th.
That is the lesson. A putting change does not have to make you look prettier. It has to make you better where scores actually change. Fitzpatrick did not describe some mystical feel fix. He described a decision backed by data. Then he trusted it under pressure.
There was also a stroke thought in play. After the win, Fitzpatrick said he and putting coach Phil Kenyon had been working on having less acceleration in his stroke, especially on uphill putts. He even admitted the winning putt on 18 was not one he loved over the ball. That honesty makes the moment even better. He did not win because it felt perfect. He won because his stroke held together anyway.
Why Fitzpatrick’s Putting Week Was Bigger Than Two Putts
Copperhead was not playing soft. PGA TOUR coverage described the course as a stern test, with the greens already showing a yellow sheen early in the week and getting firmer and faster as the sun stayed on them. A PGA TOUR preview also noted that the average winning score over the last three years at the Copperhead Course was 11-under, which is exactly where Fitzpatrick finished. This is not a place where careless putting survives.
And that is why the rest of Fitzpatrick’s Sunday matters just as much as the highlights. Reports from the final round noted that he saved par eight times after missing greens. He did not make a bogey all weekend. He did not have to put on a cartoonish putting display. He simply kept his card clean, stayed alive and rolled in the putts that change tournaments rather than just scorecards. That is elite putting in the real world.
Hyo Joo Kim: Three Days of Control, One Day of Nerve
Kim’s win at Sharon Heights was the opposite kind of putting story. Fitzpatrick felt surgical. Kim felt suffocating.
She started the week by holing out for eagle on the par-5 18th to cap a bogey-free 63. AP reported that the greens got firmer and faster as the day went on, yet Kim still posted the low round of the week and did it with just 22 putts. LPGA first-round notes added that those 22 putts were the fewest in the field. That opening round immediately gave her the tournament’s first serious putting edge.
The control continued. Her second round was not nearly as explosive, but it was still steady enough to get her to 133 through 36 holes, which set the Sharon Heights 36-hole scoring record. In Round 3 she shot 66, got to 199 and set the 54-hole record at Sharon Heights while LPGA notes identified her as the field leader in total putts with 79 through three rounds. The key number for me is not just the 79. It is the zero. Zero three-putts through 54 holes on a new host course with undulation, tree-lined visuals and increasingly tricky afternoon surfaces is the sort of stat that wins golf tournaments before Sunday even starts.
Then came Sunday, and that is where the putting story became more human.
Korda erased Kim’s five-shot lead after 10 holes. Kim answered with a birdie at 11, gave one back with a bogey at 12 and then pushed back in front with another birdie at 14. Reuters reported that she finished the day with 30 putts while hitting 12 greens, and Kim herself said the two back-nine par saves were what she was proudest of most because her shots were not as sharp. AP’s final-round report highlighted the biggest one: after going long on the par-3 17th, Kim hit a flop from deep rough to 2 1/2 feet to save par. That is not officially a putting statistic, but it is absolutely part of pressure putting because it handed her a putt she could hole instead of one that could unravel everything.
Why Sharon Heights Made Kim’s Week More Impressive
Sharon Heights was hosting an LPGA event for the first time, and the course was not just a pretty backdrop. LPGA notes listed scoring averages of 72.564 in Round 1, 72.675 in Round 2 and 70.445 in Round 3. Nelly Korda also said the greens were undulated, hard to read and bumpier in the afternoon, which matched what players saw all week. AP noted the greens got firmer and faster later in the day in Round 1. So when Kim posted 63, then 133, then 199 and set the course scoring marks for 18, 36 and 54 holes, she was not just beating a leaderboard. She was solving a brand-new tournament test faster than everyone else.
That is what makes her putting performance so strong. It was not one lucky day. It was layered control. Start lines. Pace. No wasted three-putts. Enough made putts to separate. Then just enough on Sunday to survive when the lead got shaky.
What You Can Learn From Both Winners
Fitzpatrick and Kim won in two very different ways, but the lessons line up beautifully.
First, the best putting changes are often specific, not dramatic. Fitzpatrick did not reinvent himself. He went back to a blade because the data said his 5-to-15-foot make rates were better there. That is smart, boring and incredibly useful. Check the part of your putting that actually costs you shots. Then build around that.
Second, elite putting is usually about eliminating mistakes before it is about making miracles. Kim’s zero three-putts through 54 holes may be the most important putting stat from either winner this week. When you refuse to bleed shots on medium and long putts, you free yourself up to let the birdie putts matter.
Third, pressure putting is emotional control disguised as technique. Fitzpatrick admitted the 18th putt did not feel ideal. Kim watched a five-shot lead disappear and still found birdies and par saves on the back nine. Neither one needed perfection. They needed a repeatable process when the heart rate jumped.
Quick Drill: “Window and Ladder”
Take 20 minutes and split it in half.
For the Fitzpatrick window, place three balls at 5, 10 and 15 feet on slight uphill putts. The goal is to make two of three from each distance with the same tempo and the same finish. No jabby hit. No extra pop. Just let the putter swing. That is your scoring window.
For the Kim ladder, drop four balls at 25, 30, 35 and 40 feet. Your only job is to finish every first putt inside 3 feet. After that, hole the cleanup putt. If you leave one outside 3 feet or miss the second one, start over. That teaches the exact blend Kim showed all week: great lag putting first, clean conversion second.
That is what Pressure Putts looked like this week. One winner trusted a data-backed return to his old blade and buried the two putts everyone will remember. The other built a three-day cushion with almost no wasted motion on the greens, then held the trophy together when Sunday got loud. Different paths, same truth: pressure putting is not always about fireworks. A lot of the time, it is about being the last player still making the simple ones.
Pressure Putts drops every Monday with the week’s best putting stories, stats and drills from the PGA TOUR, LPGA and DP World Tour. Got a putting question or drill request? Drop us a line.
