Exploring how Peter Malnati's equipment strategy propelled him to another PGA Tour victory at the Valspar Championship 2024
Peter Malnati put on a show at the Valspar Championship, with yet another win for his trophy shelf. He had to weather a chaotic final round which saw the lead change hands more than a few times, but he prevailed. Part of the reason he won is because he made a slight change to his equipment recently.
Malnati was working with a new 5-iron, and he brought it out for a crucial shot late in the Valspar Championship. The scoreboard was tied, and he used the new 5-iron to place his tee shot a little over six feet from the hole. He birdied to go up a shot.
When Cameron Young stumbled ever so slightly, it gave Malnati a two-stroke lead. That led to the win, which can arguably be almost directly attributed to his slight change in equipment.
Peter Malnati reveals what small change helped guide him to victory
It had been a nine-year drought for the golf veteran, but Peter Malnati once again saw his name alone at the top of the leaderboard. The American golfer had been pushing for a win, and he finally got it thanks in no small part to some equipment tweaks.
Peter Malnati said of his changes via Golf Digest:
“I’ve played a T200 4-iron for several generations, and that’s a great transition for me because it’s a little bit more forgiving, but just easy height. I was like, if the 150 is kind of in the middle, would that be a nice transition to go to that in the 5-iron?"
He revealed that J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist Director of Player Promotions, sent him just what he needed. It was "purely experimental", but it improved his launch, making it and his height a little higher.
Malnati continued:
"I can easily make it go lower if I need to, but I can't necessarily easily make it go higher if I need to. So that club, having the same look and feel as my [T100] 5-iron, but just launching it a little higher without losing any speed or carry distance seemed like a no brainer.”
Malnati also recalled telling his caddie he needed to hit 208 on the 17th hole, which proved to be a very important hole for the tournament. That is, per his own words, a pretty large 5-iron, but everything worked out perfectly.
He added:
"That was really fun in that moment to just step up, not overthink it, just it's a full 5-iron at the TV tower, go. And to watch that ball fly was a really cool feeling, to have it like tracking the hole there, that was really nice.”
Malnati captured his second career victory on the PGA Tour. His first win came in the Sanderson Farms Championship all the way back in 2015, so the world's 65th-ranked golfer had been searching for his sophomore victory for quite some time. Perhaps more people will consider new equipment if it translates to winning like it did for Malnati.