Tournament of Champions: Stuart Appleby recovers his lost putter
The mystery of the lost putter finally ended when Stuart Appleby found his missing putter minutes before his tee time on Friday.
The Aussie was worried since Thursday, when he realised that he had lost the Odyssey White Hot XG 300 mallet putter just before the opening round. Yes, it was the same putter, which helped Appleby smash the magic number of 59 in Greenbrier Classic. Appleby
was extremely worried and had to opt for a replacement from pro shop at the Kapalua Golf Academy. The result was a scorecard of 4-under-69, which was not the score that was being expected from the three-time winner.
However, on Friday afternoon, the player found his favourite club. A Golf Channel reporter Billy Ray Brown returned the putter to the Aussie on the driving range of Kapalua Golf Club. The reporter found the putter from a trailer, but how did the putter reach
the trailer? Brown replied that the production assistant Rick Folio found the putter lying on the practice green in late hours on Wednesday. Presuming it to be the property of an amateur, he took it to the production trailer.
Disclosing the mystery story Brandt Packer, Golf Channel's producer for live golf said, “Everyone was just assuming it belonged to someone from the pro-am. It was first reported that Jim Furyk might be missing his putter, then we found out that Stuart Appleby
was missing his putter, and we started to put two and two together and figured out that that might be the putter. Rick was planning to take it to the Odyssey guys next week (at the Sony Open) and see if they knew who it might belong to. It was kind of a crazy
deal.”
Appleby who has thrice conquered the Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Resort in past was extremely rejoiced on the recovery. However, at the same time he was confused as to how the putter reached the practice range.
Commenting on the situation, Appleby said, “I remember laying it down on the green, Scott thought he picked it up, but he must not have, and we're still trying to piece it together, really. Billy Ray brought it back to me this morning on the range. He said
he saw it next to his computer yesterday.”
The mystery remains unsolved, but the scores certainly proved the importance of the putter in Appleby’s performance when he scored 75 in the second round.
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