For all the talk about a bomb-and-gauge era of power golf, some of the best shots through three months of the year have come with a 4-iron.
It started with Xander Schauffele making an albatross at The American Express, the rarest shot in golf.
A week later, Max Homa hit 4-iron to 15 feet for a birdie that sent him to victory in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Then it was Justin Rose’s turn. In the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he hit 4-iron from a fairway bunker left of the fairway on the par-5 sixth to 8 feet for eagle. Rose also went on to win.
The best might have come from Tyrrell Hatton at The Players Championship. From deep in the trees right of the 18th fairway, he slashed a 4-iron toward the water with enough of a cut that it settled some 20 feet away for his fifth straight birdie.
That helped him finish alone in second behind Scottie Scheffler, which paid him $2.275 million.
Jordan Spieth nearly joined the mix when he hit 4-iron on the par-3 17th at the Valspar Championship to 6 feet. Needing to make the putt to tie for the lead, he missed.
