David Skinns overcomes broken putter to contend at Cognizant Classic

After going 0-for-4 in made cuts to begin the 2024 PGA TOUR season, David Skinns’ fate seemingly went from bad to worse on his fifth hole at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.

Skinns’ caddie Ray Yoel “took a tumble” on the 14th tee Thursday at PGA National’s Champion course, and Yoel was fortunately unhurt, but Skinns’ putter wasn’t. It had bent to around 25 degrees of loft, he said Sunday on Golf Channel’s tournament broadcast, a justified cause for consternation.

Skinns, though, knew this was no time to panic. The veteran Englishman bent his putter back to a manageable loft, within the Rules of Golf, and it quickly passed its first test; he drained an 8-footer to save par at No. 14.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Skinns, 42, didn’t only scratch and claw with his adjusted putter; he thrived with an opening 6-under 65, finishing the day No. 24 in Strokes Gained: Putting. He added rounds of 69-66 to share the 54-hole lead at the Cognizant Classic, alongside Shane Lowry and Austin Eckroat. He ranks No. 2 for the week in Strokes Gained: Putting, at the time of Sunday’s suspension of play due to dangerous weather in the area.

Skinns will chase his first TOUR title in the Cognizant’s final round, which will be completed Monday. After 19 years in pro golf, though, what’s another night of waiting?

“It’s a roller coaster some of the time, never losing the faith (in) this is what I do for a living,” Skinns said Sunday. “Whether I’m playing the Korn Ferry Tour or playing here, this is what I know, this is what I do, and I’ve always had that mentality. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to do it properly.”

Skinns applied the same mentality Thursday when discussing his putter situation with Tournament Referee Daniela Lendl. Per USGA Rule 4.1, a player is allowed to keep using and/or to repair any club damaged during the round, no matter what the damage and even if the player damaged it in anger.

No anger was involved, but the principle remained: Skinns was free to repair the putter to the best of his ability.

“I looked down at my putter, and it wasn’t OK; I had 25 degrees of loft on my putter,” Skinns said. “I called Daniela (Lendl) over, she walked me through it; I was able to try to bend it back, and I got it to puttable. As I found out later that day, it was minus-1 degrees of loft, and it was 7 degrees flat, so I was able to somewhat make it work.

“I put a decent stroke on (the par putt at 14), and it worked for the rest of the day, and I got it loft-and-lied, and it’s pretty much back to normal.”

Skinns has never carded a PGA TOUR top-10, but he’s a three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner, proving he can handle the nerves of playing a tournament’s final nine around the top of the leaderboard. He’ll look to apply lessons from those wins in the Cognizant’s final round – and if any more twists come his way, chances are he won’t be fazed.