Why Pros Are Wearing PLD Golf Hats At The Players Championship

Many eagle-eyed golf fans will notice a number of Ping staff players wearing PLD golf caps and their caddies carrying white, black and gold PLD-logoed bags at the Players Championship. So what does it mean?

It's the second time Ping has decked out its players with PLD caps and bags during The Players week, after debuting the accessories at TPC Sawgrass in 2022.

The three-letter acronym stands for 'Putting Lab Design', with many of Ping's pros using the PLD range out on the PGA, DP World and LPGA Tours as well as in LIV Golf.

Players showing off the PLD logos this week include Viktor Hovland, Matthieu Pavon, Corey Conners, Austin Eckroat, Sahith Theegala, Mackenzie Hughes, Harris English, Taylor Moore and Nate Lashley.

PLD was originally available for pros only, but the line was launched to consumers in 2022 and featured a range of high quality, premium milled flat sticks, including the PLD Anser putter. They're made from a solid block of forged 303 stainless steel, which Ping says "requires more than four hours of milling time" and have the company's precision-milled face pattern.

They come in a range of different blade and mallet designs, ranking among the best putters on the market - and five new models have just been released in the form of the PLD Milled Anser, Anser 2D, Oslo 3 and DS72 and Ally Blue 4.

Viktor Hovland is Ping's biggest name player to use one of the models, with the FedEx Cup champion and Ryder Cup star using a PLD DS 72 prototype mid-mallet.

Allisen Corpuz won the US Women's Open with one in the bag, while LIV Golf star Joaquin Niemann has also been using a PLD model to great success.