Lost in the chaos that was the Viktor Hovland-Justin Thomas duel down the stretch of the Valspar Championship was the very strong play of Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, who tied for fourth to pick up his second career top five on the PGA Tour. The 22-year-old is beginning to find some serious form in his sophomore season, and it may be thanks to a secret pre-shot routine that is no longer a secret thanks to social media.

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As The Fried Egg’s Brendan Porath first pointed out on X/Twitter during Sunday’s final round, Hisatsune was seemingly taking a sip of water before hitting putts. It was quite the process, too, one that his caddie was very much involved in. Take a look:

As you can see by the tone of Brendan’s tweet, he was just having some fun with it. But then, Korn Ferry Tour pro Brandon Berry chimed in, claiming that he played behined Hisatsune’s group at the Rocket Mortgage Classic late last June (Berry was in the field, missing the cut with rounds of 77 and 68). According to Berry, Hisatsune not only takes a sip of water before every putt, he keeps the water in his mouth until after he hits the putt:

https://twitter.com/brandon_berry15/status/19038204839774744

Of course, this could be completely made up, but it’s also one of those “why would you lie about this” type of stories. Or, better yet, one of those things you couldn’t make up if you tried.

Credit to Porath, who did some digging for this week’s The Fried Egg newsletter and found out that Hisatsune doesn’t just take sips before putts, he’s done it for full shots, too (up to 70 yards, according to Porath’s sources). What was not confirmed was whether Hisatsune actually does keep the water in his mouth until impact.

On this week’s episode of The Loop podcast, myself and Alex Myers attempt to theorize why this would even be beneficial. Plus, we discuss why the Florida Swing always delivers and the death of one of our favorite sporting events – the NCAA Tournament. Please, have a listen below, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts.