​This may be one of the oddest superstitions in recent memory if William Mouw really buys into what happened to his putting on Friday during the second round of the ISCO Championship. Mouw, the defending champion, had been struggling on the greens in Thursday’s opening round, converting only 50 feet of putts and ranking 116th in strokes gained putting among the field. In a lighthearted attempt to changing his fortune, he joked with his caddie that the flat stick was so cold that he should put it into boiling water to heat it up.
And then he did it. He actually boiled his putter, and the result was immediate and striking: he rolled in 105 feet of putts, carding five birdies on his front nine and finishing the round with a seven-under 63 at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, Kentucky. That performance left him solo in sixth place on nine under par heading into the weekend.
“I put my putting in hot water last night and it stayed hot. I woke up with it hot out of the water and stayed hot all round. That was nice,” Mouw said. “I’m going to do it tonight, too,” he added with a smile.
Mouw shared the course with Lucas Glover for the first two ISCO rounds, and Glover stood as the solo leader at 13 under. Glover admitted he hadn’t been aware of Mouw’s overnight alteration to his putter. “Huh, I thought it was a different putter. The other one looked black, this one silver,” Glover remarked. “I thought it was a different putter altogether. I didn’t ask because he made everything, so I didn’t want to mess up the mojo.”
Mouw, now 25, claimed his first tour victory in the ISCO last year by shooting a 61 in the final round. This season, after a difficult start on the West Coast Swing, he rebounded with a season-best tie for sixth in the Cognizant. He sits 105th in the FedEx Cup standings and ranks 132nd in the world rankings. The curious hot-water episode has already added a colorful chapter to his season and to the lore of golfing superstition as he eyes the weekend’s conclusion and the chance to defend his ISCO title.