Phil Mickelson added a new weapon to his golf bag

Phil Mickelson opened LIV Golf Jeddah with a 5-under 65 in the first round, putting him in a tie for seventh place and three strokes back of co-leaders Jon Rahm and Adrian Meronk. The performance was a major improvement from his first two starts of the season, as Lefty finished T51 in Mayakoba and T30 in Las Vegas with a scoring average of 72. 

That's no coincidence. 

Ahead of this weekend's tournament in Jeddah, Mickelson switched out his trusty Odyssey blade putter for a brand new L.A.B. Golf DF3 model. L.A.B. Golf is a new player in the golf equipment game, but it's growing quickly at the professional level because of its Lie Angle Balance technology. 

Here's how it's described on the L.A.B. Golf website:

"The hallmark of great putting is returning the putter face to 'square' at impact, or perpendicular to the target line. That's not our opinion; it's science. Lie Angle Balance Technology (L.A.B.) makes it effortless for golfers to deliver a square putter face at impact because, unlike other putters, it keeps the putter face square to the arc throughout the stroke. It makes putting as easy as picking the right line, the right speed and making your natural stroke."

PGA Tour pros such as Will Zalatoris, Adam Scott and Lucas Glover have turned to L.A.B. Golf putters to turn their short games around, and all three have improved their putting stats since. Mickelson, who has just one top-10 finish on LIV since September 2022, is jumping on board the hype train. 

So far, so good for Lefty, as he put the DF3 in play Friday and immediately played his best round of the season. He also finished his first round at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club with the fewest putts in the field (24), per LIV Golf Updates.