Max Homa Emerges Victorious at the Wells Fargo Championship to Notch His Fourth Win on TOUR

By Zack R., Team Titleist Staff On May 9, 2022 Balls Tour Clubs

PGA TOUR | Wells Fargo Championship

Titleist Brand Ambassador Max Homa earned win No. 4 on the PGA TOUR – his third trip to the winner’s circle in the last 15 months – with an unflappable finish at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.

  • Playing a Pro V1 golf ball and 14 Titleist clubs, Homa, 31, closed in 2-under 68 to win by two shots over a group of three players, including Matt Fitzpatrick (Pro V1x) and fellow Titleist Brand Ambassador Cameron Young.
  • The win moved Homa to No. 6 in the FedEx Cup Standings and inside the Top 30 of the world ranking (29th) for the first time ever.
  • Of the four players who finished T2 or better, three played a Titleist golf ball, TSi3 driver and Vokey Design SM9 wedges (11 total wedges).
  • Titleist was the overwhelming field favorite for golf balls with 72% of the players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x (nearest competitor, 8%).
  • In addition to golf balls, Titleist was also the most trusted driver, hybrid, utility iron, iron, wedge and putter at the event

What’s in Max Homa’s Titleist Golf Bag?

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TSi3 10.0° | Fujikura Ventus 6 Black X 
Fairway Metals: TSi2 15.0° | Alidla Rogue Black 130 MSI 80 TX and TSi2 21.0° | Graphite Design Tour AD XC 9 TX
Irons: NEW T100•S 4-iron | KBS TOUR $-Taper 130 X, NEW T100 5-iron | KBS TOUR $-Taper 130 X, and 620 MB 6-9| KBS TOUR $-Taper 130 X
Wedges: NEW Vokey Design SM9 46.10F | KBS TOUR $-Taper 130 X and NEW Vokey Design SM9 50.12F, 56.14F, 60.04L | KBS Hi Rev 2.0 125 S
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 tour prototype

HOMA GAINS HEIGHT WITH 2021 PRO V1

  • Max Homa moved into the 2021 Pro V1 golf ball – also the choice of Viktor Hovland  – earlier this season at the Farmers Insurance Open, following a visit that week to the Titleist Performance Institute in nearby Oceanside, Calif.
  • “Max was looking for a little more height throughout the bag (versus the previous generation Pro V1 he was playing),” said Jeff Beyers, tour consultant for Titleist Golf Ball R&D. “With 2021 Pro V1 he was seeing that increase in peak height and the steeper angle of descent that he wanted. We went through a lot of clubs, he really liked the window, how consistently the ball was flying – and the numbers were right in line. The softer feel was also a big plus for him.” 
  • Of the 20 players who finished T15 or better at the Wells Fargo Championship, 16 of them played a Titleist golf ball.

HOMA’S CLUTCH DRIVING WITH TSi3

  • With the lead, Max Homa stepped to the 18th tee Sunday and – using his TSi3 driver, the most player driver model on the PGA TOUR – sent his drive 322 yards down the left side of the fairway.
  • That one shot gained Homa 0.27 strokes off the tee, the most of any of his final-round tee shots.
  • “I’ve been driving the ball so well this season,” said Homa, who ranked third for the week in SG: Off the Tee (+5.862). “Tee shot (at 18) favors my ball flight, a little cut, wind off the right. I just wanted to give myself a look at birdie and I knew I had to be in the fairway to do that. I just tried to have some confidence in myself and know that that’s kind of been the weapon I’ve been using best for the duration of the season. Got up there, kind of found my slot and just kind of let it go.”
  • During the same session in which Homa switched into the 2021 Pro V1 (see above note), he also made some changes to his TSi3 driver setup while working with J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions.
  • Homa came to TPI having last played a TSi3 9.0° in a Aldila Rogue Black 130MSI 60 shaft and the SureFit Hosel set at D•4.
  • He left with a TSi3 10.0° in a Fujikura Ventus 6 Black X shaft and the SureFit Hosel set at A•1.
  • According to Van Wezenbeeck, this new setup allowed Homa to feel like he could stay on top of his fade easier and apply more force the ball.
  • In combination with 2021 Pro V1, his launch went up, spin went down and ball speed increased. 

HOMA’S NEW T100•S 4-IRON & T100 5-IRON

  • Having traditionally carried a full set of blade irons, Max Homa this season exchanged his 620 MB 4 and 5 irons for a NEW T100•S 4-iron and NEW T100 5-iron.
  • The T100•S went in the bag for the first time at the Farmers Insurance Open.
  • He added the T100 5-iron at The Genesis Invitational, two starts later.
  • “I was down in San Diego with J.J. (Van Wezenbeeck, Titleist’s Director of Player Promotions), who was fitting me at TPI. And he said, ‘Hey, you should try this 4-iron. It’s a T100•S. It’ll be a lot easier to hit. It will launch a lot higher. So it’ll come down a lot softer. It’ll go a little bit farther in the air, but then shorter once it hits the ground. So I tried it and it was super easy to hit, especially if the lie’s not perfect. I think with the blades, if it’s sitting on a little downslope or sitting a little bit down, you’re not going to get any lift out of it. And it becomes just a club that you are hoping to hit near or maybe on the green. Now with this 4-iron, because of how much easier it is to hit. The forgiveness of it, it's become a weapon, especially on par 5s.”
  • “And then, like two weeks later, we’re sitting around, my caddie and I, Joe, thinking about how a 5-iron has started feeling similar to how that blade 4-iron felt. So we put a T100 in. It feels very, very easy to hit. I can work it a little bit, but it just comes down a lot softer. So those long par 3s, especially that 5-iron, has become a big deal to us.”

HOMA ON HIS NEW VOKEY DESIGN SM9’S

  • Max Homa put four NEW Vokey Design SM9 wedges in play – 46.10F, 50.12F, 56.14F, 60.04L – the first week they were available to him at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua.
  • “I put [the SM9’s] right in just because honestly I trust Voke and I trust (Aaron) Dill a lot. But I got here and could tell right away it was just something that was going to be a little bit easier to flight in the breeze, which is always good. The extra control is just taking out a variable. If the ball’s flying into the wind, and sometimes it puffs up there and sometimes it doesn’t, that’s just another guess you have to make. So with (SM9), knowing what it’s going to do, it just brings a lot of comfort. Especially if you got one for quite a bit of FedExCup points, you want to know what’s going to happen and not just guess it.”
  • Homa’s win marks the 16th win for Vokey wedge players this season the PGA TOUR, more than all other competitors combined.

SUCCESS CONTINUES WITH HOMA’S PHANTOM X

  • Sunday marked the third win for Max Homa in the last 15 months, each of them with a Scotty Cameron Phantom X putter model in the bag.
  • “When you putt it like I did this week, you know, you almost have to mess up to at least not contend, so that was a humongous part of the week, for sure,” he said. 
  • The run began at last year’s Genesis Invitational, where Homa, gaming a Phantom X 11.5  model, became the first player to win with a Phantom X on the PGA TOUR.
  • Four months later, he switched to the Phantom X 5.5, which he used to win the Fortinet Championship in September.
  • That same putter was in his hands this week in Maryland, where he finished fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+7.596).
  • Said Homa, on his switch to Phantom X last season: “I was just struggling with face control with my putter. So I tried a few mallets, ended up going with one of the Phantoms and it just felt like it swung a bit better. It didn’t feel like I needed to work so much with my hands to release the putter. And at that time that’s really what I needed and then I got hooked on them.” 
  • “I think you almost don't have to do as much with your hands, so you can just focus on the big muscles. And I feel like, especially with putting, especially when you're nervous, that’s a huge part of being consistent and having a lot of repetition. I felt like that was something that I was missing. And when I switched to that, I felt like it just became a lot more predictable just because I could take out a variable.”
  • “Speed control became much easier with the Phantom style. I felt like because of the weight of the head or just the way it swung, I just felt like it was a lot easier to control my putts from 15 to 25 feet. That’s where I’ve typically struggled. That’s definitely the most obvious impact I saw.”
  • “I think we work a lot on alignment with my putting, with getting the face square to the target line and something about the way they set up, I feel like they’re very square. I feel like that’s helped, but I really do think that the speed control has been the main benefactor (to my wins), holing a couple extra 10 to 20 footers. And that typically is mostly speed based, less start line than the closer putts.”

DP WORLD TOUR | Betfred British Masters

The winner of the Betfred British Masters played a Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash golf ball and Scotty Cameron TourType Timeless GSS tour prototype putter in claiming his sixth DP World Tour title.

  • To close out the victory, the winner finished eagle-birdie for the second consecutive day at The Belfry, vaulting to the top of the leaderboard to win by one shot.
  • On Sunday, he holed a 28-footer for eagle on the par-5 17th and rolled his Pro V1x Left Dash in from 35 feet on No. 18 for the winning birdie.
  • For the week, he ranked third in Strokes Gained: Putting (+2.17 per round), 11th in SG: Approach (+1.56 per round) and eighth in Scrambling (74.19%).
  • Titleist was the overwhelming field favorite for golf balls with 73% of the players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x (nearest competitor, 15%).
  • In addition to golf balls, Titleist was also the most trusted iron and wedge at the event.

KORN FERRY TOUR | Simmons Bank Open

The winner of the Simmons Bank Open played a Scotty Cameron TourType Special Select ButtonBack Timeless tour prototype putter, making birdie on the 72nd hole to win by a shot.

  • Three of the last four winners on the Korn Ferry Tour have now played a Scotty Cameron putter.
  • Tyson Alexander won the recent Veritex Bank Championship gaming a Scotty Cameron TourType Special Select Flowback 5 tour prototype putter, while T.J. Vogel used a Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 tour prototype putter to win the Club Car Championship.
  • Titleist was the overwhelming field favorite for golf balls with 79% of the players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x (nearest competitor, 8%).
  • In addition to golf balls, Titleist was also the most trusted driver, fairway, hybrid, utility iron, iron and wedge at the event.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS | Mitsubishi Electric Classic

Steve Flesch (Pro V1x) rallied to win his second PGA TOUR Champions victory, closing in 7-under 65 for a one-shot victory at TPC Sugarloaf.

  • Flesch, who started the day four shots back of the lead, started the final round with five consecutive birdies from Nos. 2 through 6.
  • He finished Sunday with three birdies over the final five holes, including the winning birdie at the par-4 17th.
  • Flesch’s win marked the fourth-consecutive victory for Titleist golf ball players on PGA TOUR Champions.
  • Titleist was the overwhelming field favorite for golf balls with 77% of the players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x (nearest competitor, 12%). 

PGA TOUR AUSTRALASIA | Western Australian Open

Austin Bautista (Pro V1x) captured his first win on the PGA Tour of Australasia, posting a course-record 10-under 61 Friday at the Palmerston Golf Club on his way to a seven-shot victory in the tour’s final major of the season.

  • Bautista, 25, entered the event with three top-3 finishes.
  • The victory pushed him inside the top 10 on the tour’s final Order of Merit (to No. 9).
  • Said Bautista: “I know I could get it done. I’ve played really good golf this year, I’ve just played my own game and been really consistent. … I have a lot of exciting months and years ahead where I want to get some more wins.” 
  • Titleist golf ball and equipment players occupied nine of the top 10 in the final Order of Merit.
  • Led by Jediah Morgan, Titleist Brand Ambassadors finished in each of the Top 6 positions – Blake Windred (2), Andrew Dodt (3), Dimitrios Papadatos (4), Aaron Pike (5), Louis Dobbelaar (6) – and eight of the top 10.
  • Titleist was the overwhelming field favorite for golf balls with 86% of the players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x (nearest competitor, 6%).

ASIAN TOUR/KOREAN TOUR| The 41st GS Caltex Maekyung Open

Bio Kim (Pro V1x) claimed his seventh-career KPGA Tour victory, posting rounds of 67-68-68-72 for a two-shot victory while leading a 1-2-3-4 finish for Titleist golf ball players.

  • Twelve of the 15 players who finished among the Top 10 and ties relied upon Titleist golf balls for their success.
  • Titleist was the overwhelming field favorite for golf balls with 74% of the players teeing up a Pro V1 or Pro V1x (nearest competitor, 12%).
  • Said Kim: “(The final round) was long and hard. It was hard mentally and physically. It’s taught me to train harder and more diligently in the future to be able to handle this so I can get better results. … My top priority is the Korean PGA, and then the Asian Tour schedule. There are also plans for the Korn Ferry Tour; I couldn’t give up my dream about America.”

PGA TOUR LATINOAMERICA | Quito Open

Manav Shah (Pro V1x) earned his first PGA TOUR Latinoamerica title, posting a bogey-free 66 to win by two shots.

  • The 30-year-old UCLA alum birdied three of his final five holes Sunday to secure the victory, moving him to No. 8 on the tour’s points list.
  • The top 5 earn status on the Korn Ferry Tour next season.

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