Equipment roundup: THE CJ CUP & NINE BRIDGES

Brooks Koepka remains the most coveted equipment free agent on the market heading into 2019. Coming off his third win of the year at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, the assumption would be that it would make financial sense for Koepka to cash-in on his success and sign the largest offer possible. Strike while the iron is hot.

If only it was that easy for the top-ranked player in the world.

With an ever-changing equipment landscape, there's no guarantee Koepka could get anywhere close to the money Rory McIlroy received when he signed a staff deal with Nike back in 2013. McIlroy reportedly received roughly $200 million at the time. But that was back when the Swoosh offered equipment and apparel deals.

With Nike no longer in hard-goods industry and TaylorMade cutting back on the size of its staff, mega-deals, even for the best players in the world, are difficult to come by.

For Koepka, the future is likely in signing deals for specific deals for different clubs in his bag (i.e. woods- and iron-only deals). But with Nike honoring Koepka's current contract, there isn't the need to quickly sign elsewhere. Plus, not every manufacturer is inclined to do a club-specific deal.

Mizuno has seen a significant spike in usage on TOUR since Nike's departure, but most of the players are using the equipment without compensation. It's made Mizuno take pause when considering the possibility of inking players to iron-only agreements.

"We have so many conversations right now," said Voshall. "The tricky things is, if we're not paying them we can't say their name, feature them or talk about them. Then there's the side thing of Mizuno, right or wrong, being pigeonholed as an iron company. So there's the whole discussion of if you pay somebody to play just your irons, who was going to play them anyway, what are we getting out of that?"

For now, Koepka doesn't need to worry about signing on with one manufacturer. With four equipment brands represented in his bag, the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year is likely the future when it comes to equipment setups. Free agency may not be the best route for everyone, but a diversified setup built to the strengths of their game is something every player can get behind.

Sergio's 'Spain' putter: Sergio Garcia successfully defended his Andalucia Valderrama Masters title with a putter that may have looked cosmetically different from the Toulon Atlanta he's used throughout 2018, including his win in Singapore, which was his first start as a Callaway staffer.

In the run-up to the Ryder Cup, Sean Toulon, Odyssey Golf's general manager, and his son Sean, who handles the Tour side for Odyssey, built Garcia two putters — one for the biennial matches that saw action in France, and a Spain-inspired version with red and yellow paint fill.

Garcia, fittingly, chose to break in the Spain-inspired Toulon during the title defense in his homeland. Garcia has favored the half-moon mallet shape for a majority of his career and hasn't deviated from the head shape since he signed with Callaway at the beginning of the year.

JT's mid-tournament swap: Dealing with a putter that wouldn't warm up, Justin Thomas took matters into his own hands and benched his Scotty Cameron X5 Flow Neck putter for a classic Newport 2 Timeless GSS after two rounds. Results were mixed then rest of the way, as Thomas shot 72 during the third round before closing out the week with seven birdies on Sunday to shoot 68.