One pro asked another for putting help. Now they’re both contending

Maverick McNealy has been delivering plenty on the golf course lately, but some of his biggest golf contributions have taken place away from his tee times. For starters, there was his proposal that the FedEx Cup point distribution was slight off — which the PGA Tour rectified in the last month. That was a win for everyone. 

Then there was his generosity toward a fellow Tour player on the practice green. Someone who is contending alongside him this week. 

Joseph Bramlett and McNealy go way back, to their collegiate golf days at Stanford. Their skillsets complement each other so well — Bramlett has great long-game while McNealy is a wizard in the short game — that if you combined them into one pro, they’d be incredible. If only pro golf was that simple. 

Instead, Bramlett’s putting ability never fully graduated to the PGA Tour level. He has consistently been a negative Strokes Gained: Putting performer, and has moved so far down the stat ranking that only a handful of players are worse. McNealy, on the other hand, putts better than almost everyone else. He ranks 36th in putting this year, but was No. 1 on Tour in 2023 and 19th on Tour in 2022. 

Plainly, McNealy and Bramlett were due for a collab, and they kicked it off a few months ago.

“[Joseph] had a few things that kind of snowballed into lack of confidence with putting,” McNealy said Saturday, after finishing the third round tied for the lead at the RSM Classic.

“So he changed putters and changed grips. And I’ve never really been a technical putting coach, like I don’t really focus on technique with my putting. Starting my freshman year of college I realized that I was the worst putter on the team by a long shot and that was what I needed to improve to get better. I really dialed in on speed, eye line, green reading and kind of rhythm, tempo and timing.”

The proof is in the stats for McNealy, but could it work for Bramlett, too? Putting is easily the most fickle component of the game. Even the worst putters on Tour have their moments when it all comes together. McNealy spent some time with Bramlett in the summer imparting his putting “blueprint,” he said, highlighting the things he looks for in a good stroke, and the drills he does to hone consistency. 

“To his credit, he’s done them religiously,” McNealy said. “There’s a speed drill with coins that I do four times a week at least and I think he’s done it every day since we started chatting about putting a couple months ago. I’m really excited to see that panning out for him.”

While McNealy didn’t elaborate on that speed drill, it’s clear it’s working for his buddy this week more than ever before. Bramlett has played three rounds this week, with two of them counting Strokes Gained: Putting. He ranked 19th through Saturday, shooting a third-round 64 to sit six back of McNealy and the lead. Were he to develop his putting to simply a Tour-average level, Bramlett would suddenly become a top 40 player on Tour, ranked along the likes of Tommy Fleetwood or Shane Lowry.

While Bramlett’s pal and unofficial putting coach has a much better chance of winning the RSM Classic Sunday, he’s got more on the mind than his own contention. He wants a Bramlett breakthrough into the top 125 of the FedEx Cup Fall, and secured status on Tour next season.

“I would trade 100 trophies to have him on the PGA Tour next year,” McNealy said.