The really cool reason Austin Eckroat hasn’t watched highlights of his Cognizant win

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Some PGA Tour players are married to their putters, like wizards are to their wands.

Austin Eckroat, though, isn’t one of them.

Eckroat, the 26-year-old who broke through with two wins last year on the PGA Tour, is a tinkerer by nature on the greens. He keeps about 15 putters in a room at his home in Edmond, Oklahoma, and is constantly rotating them in and out of the bag.

“I’ll walk in there and [be like], ‘This putter looks good, I’ll try this one out,’” Eckroat said. “That’s kind of how I look at putting.”

This week at the Cognizant Classic, Eckroat will use his third different flatstick of the season – and it’s one with special meaning; the Ping Redwood D66 was in the bag when Eckroat won his maiden PGA Tour title at last year’s Cognizant.

“It was my wife’s advice,” Eckroat said. “She said, you should use that one.”
Eckroat led the field in birdies with 23 last year at PGA National. The putter also sank the winning putt, a 13-footer for par that Eckroat still hasn’t watched highlights of.

There’s a good reason.

“I’ve been lucky enough, I got some good advice when I was in college, that if there’s a shot that you really liked or make the putt to win, never watch it,” Eckroat said. “You only want to see it from your eye, not from the TV’s perspective, because once you watch it you’ll forget what you saw. I’ve done a pretty good job of that this year. I didn’t watch the final round or anything.

“Like I said, I have it from my point of view, and I’m really happy about that.”

He’d be even happier with another winning image.