[Photo: Orlando Ramirez]
Andrew Novak started the final round of the VintaWorld Mexico open with a sizeable, six-shot lead. That margin shrunk to as little as three as he played the eighth hole. There, a towering fairway wood shot into the par 5 led to a two-putt birdie that increased his lead and helped propel him to PGA Tour win No.2, but his first as an individual. (Novak paired with Ben Griffin to win the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event.)
RELATED: Andrew Novak had the perfect response to taking this stray over an unfortunate PGA Tour stat
The shot, struck with a 19-degree Ping G440 Max 5-wood, should’ve come as no surprise, especially to Novak, who was particularly sharp on his approach shots for the week. In fact, he ranked third in the field for strokes gained/approach the green with an impressive five-plus shots on the field.
On the occasion he did miss the green, Novak was able to get up and down 15 of 18 times to rank third for the week. Novak’s wedges are Cleveland Golf’s new RTZ 2 model, a club only recently available at retail.
That alone is usually enough to put you in contention, but you need to have the putter working to win on tour. Novak was on-point with his T.P. Mills flatstick. Novak led the field in strokes gained/putting as well, picking up nearly nine shots on the field on the greens. Helping that was a 24-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th that gave Novak some breathing room and a 44-footer on the 14th that effectively sealed things.
The story of Novak’s well-worn, rusted putter dates back to the 2026 Wyndham Championship. At that time, he was putting poorly and in search of something to break out of his slump. He went into his garage and pulled out the blade-style Mills and has been putting with it ever since.
“It is cool to see that what I thought I could do, I’m actually doing now that I’ve finally got a putter that’s going in the hole,” said Novak.
And perhaps cool to see what he can do going forward as well.
What Andrew Novak had in the bag at the 2026 VidantaWorld Mexico Open:
Ball: Sixon Z-Star XV Arrow
Driver: Ping G440 LST (Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 60 TX), 9 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D, 15 degrees
5-wood: Ping G440 Max, 19 degrees
Irons (4): Srixon ZXi5; (5-PW): Srixon ZXi7
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ 2 (50, 54, 60 degrees)
Putter: T.P. Mills prototype
