September 28 — New England golfers may remember Paul Szep for the witty, Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoons he published in the Boston Globe for many years. Now the golf world knows Szep as the guy who put the divot in the cut-rate putter that PGA Tour pro Jim Furyk used to win the $10 million FedEx Cup.
“I missed one or two putts too many, I guess,” Szep laughingly told New England Golf Monthly about the ding in the used Yes! flat stick that Furyk famously bought earlier this month from Joe & Leigh’s Discount Golf Pro Shop in South Easton, Mass.
Club slut. A self-professed “club slut,” Szep trades a slew of sticks annually with Joe & Leigh’s. He just never expected one of his cast-offs, which was “just sitting there, collecting dust,” to go big-time.
“I’ve always kind of coveted the tour guys’ putters,” said Szep, a 7-handicapper who lives in Florida but still plays out of The Kittansett Club (Marion, Mass.) when he’s in Boston. “So it was kind of neat to have [Furyk] playing with my putter.”
ROI. Furyk, who stuffed a 2-footer Sunday on the final hole of Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club to claim the FedEx Cup jackpot and the Tour Championship winner’s $1.35 million check, received one heck of a return on the used putter he bought for $39. Originally selling for $65 as a used club, the golf store marked it down because of the superficial damage to the flange.
Furyk happened upon Joe & Leigh’s after a staffer at nearby TPC Boston, site of the annual Deutsche Bank Championship, learned of the golf pro’s quest for a putter. The three-time 2010 winner spent about 45 minutes in the store, testing new models and searching the warehouse until he found what he wanted in the used-club section.
“He was looking for a traditional heel-shafted putter with no [alignment] lines on the top,” said Mark Petrucci, manager and golf pro at the affiliated Pine Oaks Golf Course. “He wanted a nice, clean look.”
Free press. Furyk put the putter into play for the final round of the Deutsche Bank and used it again two weeks later at the BMW Championship outside Chicago. After hoisting the FedEx Cup, Furyk told reporters he purchased the putter at a Massachusetts “golf superstore” whose name he couldn’t recall until the Globe’s Michael Whitmer shouted out the shop’s name.
Joe & Leigh’s, an 8,000-square-foot shop, has grown dramatically since its inception as a 240-sq.-ft. space in 1981. It is now the second-largest on-course store in the country, according to Petrucci. With business booming, the owners branched out with its 3balls.com online concern in 1998.
Together, the two companies made more than $20 million in revenues last year. Since Furyk’s win, “foot traffic” and sales have picked up significantly, Petrucci said. He joked that the shop may offer officials tours of its generous indoor putting area.
“People are taking a harder look at different things and hoping there’s some black magic back there,” he said.
Petrucci, who was playing his own round of golf when Furyk canned his winning putt Sunday, will follow the pro’s progress on NBC’s tape-delayed coverage of this week’s Ryder Cup.
Big fan. “I will certainly have my eye on the Ryder Cup to see how he’s doing,” Petrucci said. “I was rooting for him before but I’m certainly rooting for him more now.”
Oh, if you’re looking for one of those Yes! Sophia model putters that Furyk put on the map, you’re in luck because Joe & Leigh’s expected a new shipment in on Wednesday.
“We haven’t sold very many of that model in the past,” Petrucci noted, “and we have a dozen coming in.”
As for the dings and nicks, you’ll have to add those yourself.
(Emily Kay is a regular contributor to New England Golf Monthly. Check her out at the Boston Golf Examiner and National Golf Examiner websites.)
Related posts:
- Yes! he can! Furyk wins $10 million FedEx Cup golf tourney with used $39 putter
- Phil Mickelson blasts PGA commish Finchem for Furyk DQ
- Stricker, Furyk Bolt to Lead at Deutsche Bank Championship
- Deutsche Bank Championship: Tiger Woods in, looks beyond Boston
- Another 36 for New England golfer Tim Petrovic at Monday
